Moscow and Tehran

Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a letter about Iran to President Obama in advance of his summit with Russian President Medvedev in Moscow next week.

"As you travel to Russia next week we strongly urge you to put preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability as the top priority in your discussions with Russia’s leadership," the letter states. "Negotiations over bilateral arms control, missile defense in Europe, civilian nuclear cooperation, WTO accession and other issues in the U.S.-Russian relationship must be conducted with an eye towards Russian policy on Iran. We believe that the United States should not make unilateral gestures without specific understandings that Moscow will support tougher measures against Iran if Tehran does not soon suspend its enrichment program."

The letter urges Obama to "make it known that Russia should not expect progress on issues of concern to Moscow if it does not take a tougher stance on Iran."