MOSCOW. (Vladimir Yevseyev for RIA Novosti)...

The first signs of deterioration appeared in the middle of last June when blatant electoral fraud sparked widespread unrest in the Islamic Republic. Several days later Yekaterinburg played host to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, at which Iran has observer status. At the summit Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put Russia in an awkward position by forcing it to recognize his victory in the elections. This in turn drew fierce criticism of Moscow from the Iranian opposition. However, Russia supported Ahmadinejad with a view to developing a relationship of trust, particularly in such sensitive areas as the arms trade and the nuclear power industry.

Another event indicating that a chill was in the air took place in late September when President Dmitry Medvedev learned, from his American counterpart, about the secret construction of a new uranium-enrichment plant near Qom, a Shiite holy city in Iran. Russia started to doubt the peaceful nature of Iran"s nuclear

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