Putin arrives in Tehran for summit

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin arrived in the Iranian capital today amid a swirl of speculation about whether Moscow would follow or reject Western plans to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.

Putin and an entourage arrived here for a summit of the leaders of the five states bordering the energy-rich but ecologically threatened Caspian Sea. His visit is the first to Iran by a Russian head of state since 1943, when Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met here to map World War II strategy.

Hours after Putin left Germany, Iranian officials had said the Russian president would arrive in Tehran early today instead of Monday evening as scheduled, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

The reason for the delay and Putin’s whereabouts during the interim were unknown. Russian news agencies quoted unnamed officials warning of terrorist plots to assassinate Putin once he arrived in Tehran.

Putin days ago publicly rebuffed a visiting delegation of U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who pressed the Russian to embrace American plans to build a missile defense system to counter Iran.

He also brushed aside entreaties by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Moscow this month to seek support for increasing economic sanctions on Iran.

But U.S. officials said that Putin sounded more flexible in private conversations and hinted that they were pleased with the message they expected the Russian leader to deliver to Iran.

Experts cautioned against reading too much into the visit by Putin. He also attended the first such summit, in Turkmenistan in 2002.

“It looks suspicious, his coming here after shrugging off Rice and Sarkozy, but the fact is that the Russians have paid attention to their Caspian backyard since forever,” said a Western diplomat in Tehran, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for his government.

“He would have come to this conference whether it was in Astana or Baku,” he said, referring to the Kazakh and Azerbaijani capitals. “It happens to be in Tehran.”

Putin, speaking to reporters Monday in Wiesbaden, Germany, after meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, said, “Iran’s nuclear program will be discussed in talks with the Iranian leadership,” according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

The U.S. and France are spearheading an effort to impose a third round of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment program. Russia and China, which hold veto power on the council, appear opposed to immediate sanctions.

“Intimidating anyone -- in this case, the Iranian leadership or the Iranian people -- will make no sense,” Putin said in Germany. “They are not afraid, believe me.”

Despite U.S. opposition, Russia continues to build and operate a light-water nuclear power plant in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr.

Iran accuses Russia of reneging on a deal to supply the plant with nuclear fuel. Moscow says Tehran hasn’t paid its bills, but most analysts believe Russia is holding back on completing the project for fear of alienating the West.

The delays have prompted anger from some conservative circles in Iran.

The hard-right Jomhouri Eslami daily accused Moscow of “paving the way for the plans of neocolonialism in the heart of the Islamic world” by remaining silent or acquiescing to U.S.-led pressure on Iran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini told reporters that Iran and Russia would hold bilateral discussions on nuclear and other issues after the Caspian Sea talks.

The West fears that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says it seeks only nuclear-generated electricity.

daragahi@latimes.com

Daragahi is a Times staff writer and Mostaghim a special correspondent. Times staff writers David Holley in Moscow and Peter Spiegel in Washington contributed to this report.