The five Caspian Sea littoral states adopted a declaration at their second summit on Tuesday in Tehran, pledging to deny access to third countries who intend to use force against any Caspian state.

This past weekend U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Russia in an attempt to diminish tensions between Washington and Moscow with regard to missile defense and arms control. During this visit, Putin warned the U.S. to drop their plans to install a missile defense …

Russian President Vladimir Putin here on Tuesday reiterated Moscow’s assistance to Iran’s peaceful nuclear programs.