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DER SPIEGEL: You know that the West fears Iran with nuclear weapons. But as big as this fear is, thus big is the issue. What is Russia's stance in this sphere? How far are you wishing to support Iran both in arms deliveries and in technological development of this country? Will you support tougher Western sanctions against Iran?

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: First, about the nuclear ambitions of Iran. These ambitions can be achieved within the programme on the peaceful use of nuclear energy under IAEA supervision. Nobody is against this. It is only necessary to comply with the existing rules and not to try to conceal any facilities.

If agreements are reached on programmes of uranium enrichment and its subsequent peaceful use in Iran, we will then gladly take part in such programmes.

But if the Iranian leadership takes a less constructive position, hypothetically anything is possible then. We spoke about this in New York during our meeting with President Obama. I would not like all this to culminate in international legal sanctions because sanctions, as a rule, are a road in a very tricky and dangerous direction. But if there is no progress, nobody can exclude such a scenario either.

Second, our national policy and my decisions are based on assumption that we will supply only those types of weapons that have a pronounced defensive nature. We will not deliver any offensive weapons.

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