IRAN, RUSSIA JOIN HANDS AGAINST U.S., TALIBAN EXPANSION - OPEC








VIENNA, MARCH 12 (from RIA Novosti's Borislav Pechnikov) - Teheran and Moscow are joining hands against US expansion in the Caspian area, say OPEC leaders as Mohammad Khatami is starting a visit to Russia--a first by an Iranian president since the Islamic revolution of 1979.


	Judging by rumours close to the OPEC top, Russo-Iranian negotiations will focus on Central Asian strategic petroleum reserves, arms supplies and nuclear power problems.


	Close Russo-Iranian ties will come natural with the two countries being neighbours, and to retaliate Western pressure on Iran, the world's second-largest for crude petroleum, says Elahe Kulaye, Iranian parliamentarian and expert on Russian affairs.


	Iran certainly attaches great importance to extending contacts with Russia--suffice it to say that Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh, Minister of Petroleum, is accompanying President Khatami on his visit. As he meets with Russian counterparts at the negotiation table, the minister intends to see their opinion of prospects for the 114th OPEC conference in Vienna to cut oil-drilling and raw petroleum export quotas, say OPEC experts.


	The visitors also intend to discuss in Moscow a wide range of issues related to the Caspian area, and elaborate a unified stance to be offered to other Caspian countries for consideration.


	Russia and Iran are equally alarmed with Taliban progress in Afghanistan. As the Shi'i Iran sees it, the Sunni movement threatens the West and the Muslim East alike, point out OPEC analysts.