Milenko Kindl

WIESBADEN, Germany - Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Monday
that he would travel to Iran to discuss its nuclear program despite
reports of an assassination plot, saying if he paid attention to all
the threats against him "I would never leave home."
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Russia's Interfax news agency, citing a source in Russia's special
services, said Sunday that suicide terrorists had been trained to
carry out the assassination in Iran. The Kremlin said Putin was
informed about the threat.

"Of course I am going to Iran," Putin told reporters at a news
conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following talks in
Wiesbaden, southwest Germany. "If I always listened to all the various
threats and the recommendations of the special services I would never
leave home."

Putin said the trip was a chance to support direct dealings with Iran
- which has no diplomatic relations with the United States - and cited
North Korea, which recently agreed to take its nuclear reactor out of
service, as an example of the results achievable by diplomacy.

"We were patient and consistently looked for solutions and it looks
like we are finding them. The same has to be applied, we believe, in
the case of the Iranian nuclear program," Putin said.

"We can and must be patient and look for a way out. Can we do it
without having a dialogue with the Iranian leadership and people? I
think it's impossible, unlikely."

Putin did underline that Russia planned to work with Europe and the
United States, which are also stressing negotiation despite recurring
speculation about a potential U.S. strike against Iran. Washington is
pushing for a third, tougher round of sanctions against Tehran for
refusing to give up its program to enrich uranium, which Iran says is
for peaceful purposes but the U.S. says is preparation for making
weapons.

Putin's trip will be scrutinized for changes in Russia's complex
position on Iran. Russia has been skeptical of more sanctions in the
United Nations Security Council and is building Iran's first nuclear
reactor.

But Moscow has delayed completion and urged Tehran to comply with
international controls on its program. An announcement by Putin during
his visit that it would be finished quickly would be seen as a gesture
toward the Iranians.

During his visit to Iran, Putin is to meet with President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and attend Tuesday's summit of Caspian Sea nations. He is
the first Kremlin leader to travel to Iran since Josef Stalin attended
the 1943 wartime summit with Winston Churchill and Franklin D.
Roosevelt.

Putin's trip would be important for Iran even if it yielded no
agreements. "It's a break in international isolation, a chance to show
that Iran is an important country," said Alexander Pikayev, a leading
expert on Iran with Russia's Institute for World Economy and
International relations.

Iranian media also emphasized the importance of Putin's trip. Iran's
state television said the visit would "show Russia's independence from
the United States."

European Union nations on Monday were considering more sanctions or
other measures against Iran, with a meeting of foreign ministers
planning to warn that Iran's time is running out.

Diplomats said EU governments were to warn Iran of "further
appropriate measures" if it fails to cooperate, notably new economic
and political sanctions that could include investment bans, or
scrapping export credit guarantees.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said European trade to Iran
had already fallen "by about 37 percent in the year to May," signaling
that the EU was serious about punishing Iran.

"The EU is playing its part in signaling very clearly to the Iranian
regime that they need to abide by the successive U.N. Security Council
resolutions," Miliband told reporters.

Putin's statements came at the end of a distinctly chummy summit
between him and Merkel, who has been more willing than predecessor
Gerhard Schroeder to raise Russia's human rights record - but largely
skirted those issues in public at this meeting.