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Friday, April 10, 2009

Former Bush Aides Inform Obama Team - Careful Trusting Russia on Iran

Former aides to President Bush and Vice President Cheney are warning their successors in the Obama administration to be wary of Russian pledges of cooperation in the multilateral campaign to rein in Iran's nuclear program.

The warnings came after FOX News reported on Thursday that top Obama aides believe Russia will be willing to sign on to "much more severe" sanctions against Iran if the Islamic republic refuses to halt its uranium enrichment activity by 2010.

A senior U.S. official serving under Obama told FOX News Moscow's new openness to tough sanctions stems from an admission by the Kremlin that American intelligence estimates on the pace of the Iranian nuclear program have been more accurate than Russia's own.

During their G-20 summit meeting in London earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Obama, according to the U.S. official, that "your assessments have been more right than ours."

But former Bush administration aides said Russia is playing a familiar tune.

"We have been there before," said David Wurmser, a former Middle East adviser to Cheney and founder of the Delphi Global Analysis Group, a private consulting firm in Washington. - FOX News Story

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