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Putin goes to Iran despite plot report

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was going ahead with his trip to Iran, shrugging off reports of a plot to kill him in Tehran.

“Of course I am going to Iran,” Mr. Putin told reporters at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Wiesbaden on Monday. “If I listened to all the various threats and the recommendations of the special services I would never leave home.”

Russia’s Interfax news agency, citing an unnamed source in special services, reported on Sunday that several squads of suicide bombers were preparing to kill or capture Mr. Putin on a visit to Tehran this week.

A U.S. thinktank, Stratfor, suggested that information about a possible assassination attempt could have come from the U.S., which hates to see Mr. Putin visit Iran.

Intriguingly, some Western media reported that the Russian leader was likely to cancel the trip, even as the Kremlin denied any change in Mr. Putin’s plans.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared ready to cancel his first trip to Iran following reports about a possible assassination attempt, a move that would badly strain Moscow’s relations with Tehran,” the Associated Press said. “Russia President Vladimir Putin is set to cancel an Iran visit after learning of a plot to kill him,” Britain’s The Sun reported.

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