The United States Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, has urged China to take firm action against Iran's nuclear program, saying China stands to lose from any instability in the Middle East. The U.S. is pushing for new sanctions against Iran, but China has been reluctant to support the move.

US President George W Bush says a missile defence system in Europe is urgent because Iran could be working on weapons capable of striking the United States.

The U.S. secretary of defense told Russian military cadets Saturday the U.S. is ready to work with Russia on common security threats. In a speech at the Military Academy in Moscow, Secretary Robert Gates spoke about the history of the two countries, and said no nation has suffered more from the wars of the last century than Russia.

Moscow views the U.S. missile defense program in Central Europe as anti-Russian, but has sufficient capability to counter it, a top military official said Wednesday.

Russia is offering to engage NATO in a strategic partnership to counter possible missile threats, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. As an alternative to U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland, Russia has proposed the joint use of a radar station that Russia leases from Azerbaijan.

The United States Thursday termed "unfortunate" a threat by a senior Russian official to counter a U.S. missile defense system in Europe with new offensive deployments. But the State Department says the Bush administration is otherwise having a constructive dialogue with Moscow on the issue.

Russia does not consider Iran a threat and it should not be used to justify plans to deploy missiles in Europe, Russia's foreign minister told a Wednesday news conference in Tehran.

NATO nations have accepted the controversial U.S. missile defense system, and decided to focus the alliances' own missile defense efforts on protecting its southern flank against short and medium-range missiles from the Middle East.

Iranian politicians have responded disapprovingly to a Russian components that the United States deploy components of a proposed antiballistic-missile shield in Azerbaijan instead of Central Europe.

The Iranian parliament called on its government to "harshly react" to a Russian proposal on the placement in Azerbaijan of a key component in a joint U.S.-Russian antimissile radar system.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov says Azerbaijan is ready to consider a proposal for the joint U.S.-Russian use of a radar facility in the country as part of a proposed missile-defense system, RFE/RL Azerbaijani Service reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday dismissed as "ludicrous" Russian concerns that a U.S. missile defense plan for Europe would threaten Moscow's nuclear deterrent. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia may pull out of a central European arms control treaty over the issue. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.