Iran on Tuesday hailed the visit of Russian president. "The landmark visit to Tehran of Vladimir Putin is a major event itself but more importantly is the failure of a US-Zionist scenario organized to make the Russian president cancel his trip," the official news agency IRNA said in an editorial.

President Putin is the first Russian president who visits Iran after about 65 years when the then president of Russia, Josef Stalin, visited the country in 1943 along with his British and US counterparts.

Iran claims Israel tried to prevent this historic visit. "About 24 hours prior to President Putin's visit to Iran, certain Zionist sources started a new bid and a psychological warfare to prevent his visit claiming that there was an imminent "assassination plot" against the Russian president during his Tehran visit," the editorial added.  

During his stay in Iran, Putin stressed that Moscow would not allow other countries to use its soil for attacking the Caspian Sea littoral states. He made the remarks in his speech at the second summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states.

The Russian president arrived in Iran Tuesday morning at the head of a high-ranking delegation to attend the summit.

© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)