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QUESTION: Tom, any information that have been conveyed by the Russians to the Americans in relation to Mr. Putin's visit to Iran and on Iran's nuclear and uranium enrichment program?

MR. CASEY: I'm not sure that we've gotten any kind of detailed readout from the Russian Government about President Putin's meetings there. Certainly, we would hope that he in those discussions did convey the concerns of the international community, including the consensus view of the P-5+1. It's important to us that the Iranians continue to hear from people throughout the international community about the need for them to comply with their international obligations. And of course, we'll be continuing to work with the Russians and others in the P-5+1 to look at next steps here in accordance with our two-track approach.

Someone noted this morning, I believe Mr. Solana, is planning on having a meeting with Mr. Larijani some time in the next week or so. And that is again, another opportunity for the official channel between the P-5+1 and the Iranians to move forward and for the Iranians to be able to hear from Mr. Solana about the opportunity that the P-5 is providing and offering to Iran if it is, in fact, willing to honor the basic commitments -- basic requirements of the international community, including suspension of its uranium enrichment activity. We will also, though, continue our consultations among the P-5+1 about the makeup of a next Security Council resolution which would increase the existing sanctions that already are placed on Iran as a result of their failure to comply with the previous resolutions that have been out there.

QUESTION: How would you -- what will be the basis for another resolution when you hear from the Russians, especially Mr. Putin, that he doesn't see any threat from the Iranian nuclear program?

MR. CASEY: Well, the basis for another resolution is the consensus of the P-5+1, reconfirmed as recently as last week, about our two-track approach and about the need to move forward with additional sanctions against Iran in the event that the Iranian Government refuses to comply with the requirements that have been laid out for it. I know there's been a lot of speculation and a lot of commentary made about some of the public statements that have come out of this recent visit. But our understanding is Russian views on how to proceed in terms of responding to Iran's nuclear program remain the same. We fully believe that they are part of the P-5+1 consensus and expect them to remain so.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Tom, the United States considers Russia a partner, is that right?

MR. CASEY: They're partners with us on any number of issues. Obviously, though, Nicholas, as you've seen, there are issues where we have differences.

QUESTION: President Putin said today that Iran was Russia's strategic partner. Is that a problem for you?

MR. CASEY: Russia's free to define its relations with other countries as it sees fit. It's up to any individual country to determine who it's going to have bilateral relations with and what the nature of that relationship is. But look, Nicholas, your question is: Does Russia believe in the course that we are pursuing with respect to Iran's nuclear program? And yes, they do and that consensus has been reaffirmed and we have every confidence that -- and if we get to the point of moving forward with another resolution, and I expect we will, barring any change of heart on the part of the Iranians, that we'll have the support of the Russian Government in doing so.

QUESTION: Obviously you have criticized developments in Russia quite a bit. But I don't recall American officials deriding Russian foreign policy or anything of that kind. That's what President Putin did today in terms of American foreign policy. Are there any feelings either way in this building about this? I mean, he wasn't even hiding it. He's done it in the past, in a way, at Munich and in other places, but he sort of went a step further today.

MR. CASEY: Look, I'll let President Putin speak for himself. I'll let his government speak for themselves. The United States and Russia have a relationship that is based on common interests and common desires to see certain things happen, to see Iran not gain a nuclear weapon, to see the Korean Peninsula denuclearized, to work together to combat terrorism. These are all areas where you know we've worked together and worked together fairly extensively and well.

There are other areas where we haven't. I think -- I'm assuming you're referring to comments that President Putin made about Iraq. Well, I think the President said yesterday that President Putin made it quite clear to him before the war in Iraq started that he didn't think that was a good idea. I don't think he said anything today that makes it -- makes his views any different.

And again, I think it's abundantly clear to us, and we've said it before but I'll happily say it again for you just in case the point is missed, that U.S. troops are in Iraq at the invitation of the sovereign Iraqi Government, that Iraqi officials starting with the Prime Minister and the President on down have said that they need and want our support in order to be able to meet their own security goals. We certainly want to be able to help them do that because a stable, peaceful, functioning Iraq is in the interest of the United States, it's in the interest of Russia and it's in the interest of the international community.

But the fact that Russia disagreed with the decision to go into Iraq in the first place is certainly no surprise. The fact that they continue to have problems with it isn't either.

Anne.

QUESTION: Does the Secretary consider Putin wily?

MR. CASEY: Wily?

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. CASEY: Is that like Wile E. Coyote or -- no, I have not heard her use that word with reference to him, but I certainly haven't asked the question.

QUESTION: Well, Bush used the word yesterday.

MR. CASEY: I can't -- I know the President has spoken to this and I leave his words to stand for themselves. I have not posed that particular question or that particular phrase to the Secretary.

QUESTION: I just wondered if that's a word that diplomats would use.

MR. CASEY: I keep on thinking of Wile E. Coyote, super genius. Look, it's the description the President gave it. I'll leave it with that.

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