Haaretz reports: “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States and other Western nations against imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Interfax news agency reported.

The European Union has said it may impose unilateral sanctions if a UN Security Council resolution fails.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has been lobbying Western companies not to do business with Iran, but has not imposed sanctions against them.

Countries facing Security Council sanctions ‘cannot under any circumstances be the subject of one-sided sanctions imposed by one or other government bypassing the Security Council’, Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

‘The position of the United States today does not display understanding of this absolutely clear truth.’

Russia is in talks with the United States and other U.N. Security Council members on a fourth round of sanctions. Moscow has indicated it could support broader sanctions but has stressed they must not harm the Iranian people.

Washington has not publicly warned of unilateral sanctions but has made clear it wants tougher measures than veto-wielding Security Council member Russia is likely to accept.

Permanent Security Council member China has joined Russia in opposing Washington’s plans to impose tough, wide-ranging sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activity and open up fully to UN nuclear inspections…” (Russia and Iran are united during World War III – Ezekiel 38:1, 2, 5, 8, 16.)

Haaretz reports: “Russia must take into account Syria’s problematic nuclear stance before considering cooperation with Damascus over nuclear power, a top United States official said.

The comments followed reports that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad had discussed the possibility of nuclear collaboration in Damascus earlier.

‘Cooperation [with Syria] on atomic energy could get a second wind,’ Medvedev told reporters, but provided no further details on what form the collaboration might take.

Russian news agencies quoted Assad as saying that he had discussed with Medvedev the possibility of building power plants, including nuclear ones, in Syria…” (Syria and Russia are also united for Armageddon – Isaiah 17:1; Ezekiel 36, 39; Revelation 16:16.)

Asia Times Online reports: “Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been in the headlines, first for describing his predecessor Joseph Stalin as a ‘totalitarian dictator’ and then for making the first state visit to Syria by a Kremlin chief since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Medvedev met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during his Syria visit and in an unprecedented move wrote a front-page editorial for Syria’s daily al-Watan on how important bilateral relations are between Damascus and Moscow.

During the two-day visit, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart agreed a 14-point declaration which included periodic presidential visits as well as cooperation on tourism, education, military affairs, investment and trade and prevention of the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

A strongly worded statement was also issued calling for peace in the Middle East based on United Nations resolutions and the restoration of the June 4, 1967 borders of Israel, which would return all occupied land to the Arabs. It also called for a solution to the Palestinian refugee question and the creation of a viable Palestinian state…” (Believe me they will lean on Israel and soon. Eighteen Biblical texts document Russia’s invasion against Israel – Ezekiel 38: 8, 14,16, 17, 18. 19; 39:2, 4, 7 [twice], 9, 11, 12, 17, 22, 23, 25, 29.)