MUNICH — Vice President Joe Biden held out an olive branch Saturday to Iran and Russia and reassured European allies that the Obama administration would treat them as equals but emphasized that “America will ask its partners to do more as well.”
In a major foreign-policy address Saturday to an international security conference, Biden told an audience of world leaders that the White House was willing to engage the government in Iran if it heeded calls to end its nuclear-weapons program and changed its policies in the Middle East.
“This much is clear: We will be willing to talk,” Biden said. But he added a warning to Iran: “Continue down your current course and there will be pressure and isolation.”
Biden also said the White House wanted a fresh start with the Kremlin, which under Vladimir Putin had seen a deterioration in relations with the Bush administration.
“The last few years have seen a dangerous drift in relations between Russia and members of our alliance,” he said, referring to the NATO military alliance. “The United States rejects the notion that NATO’s gain is Russia’s loss or that Russia’s strength is NATO’s weakness.
“As President Obama has said, ‘It’s time to press the reset button,’ ” he added.
In recent months, Moscow and Washington have squabbled over the Russian invasion of Georgia, proposals to expand NATO and the global financial crisis. The Pentagon also blames Russia for pressuring the Central Asian country of Kyrgystan to close a U.S. airbase that supplies troops in Afghanistan.
Another sore point has been the Pentagon’s plans to develop a global missile-defense shield with anchors in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russian leaders had been hoping that President Barack Obama would pull the plug.
Biden said the project would go forward, but only if the Obama administration is satisfied that its unproven technology will work and only in consultation with Europe and Russia.
While he was conciliatory in his speech, Biden also signaled that the Obama administration would take a tough line when necessary.
For example, he said the U.S. government would not recognize the breakaway Caucasus republics of Abkhazia or South Ossetia, which seceded after the war in Georgia and have received strong Russian support.
