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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to back tough sanctions against Iran that would deal a crippling blow to its critical energy industry.
The Israeli leader expressed glowing satisfaction over his talks in the Kremlin with Medvedev, amid signs that Russia is finally losing patience with the Islamic Republic over Tehran's defiance in the nuclear crisis.
"What is needed now is biting sanctions that have the power to influence the regime, bitter sanctions that have to hit, in a convincing way, the (Iranian) oil industry, imports, exports and refining," Netanyahu told reporters after the talks.
"The Russian president expressed a full understanding of the issues that concern us," he added.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian side on the talks and it was not clear how far Medvedev, whose country is a permanent UN Security Council member, indicated he was prepared to back the Israeli demands.
But Russia has in recent weeks questioned the "sincerity" of Iran's pledges not to develop nuclear weapons and, in an apparent hardening of position, said fresh UN sanctions on Tehran were a "realistic" option.
A senior Israeli official said that during the meeting, they heard "things we have never heard before about the Russian view of the Middle East."
Iran is Israel's arch foe and the Jewish state accuses Tehran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon. By contrast, Russia has the strongest ties with Iran of any major power and has repeatedly urged restraint in the nuclear standoff.
"What kind of sanctions? The toughest possible, the most biting," said Netanhayu.
"As 80 percent of the Iranian economy or the budget of the regime depends on energy, we have to work toward aggressive sanctions against their energy (interests)," he added.
This is Netanyahu's first official trip to Moscow since taking office a year ago but follows a clandestine visit in September, a secretive move that highlighted the key role Russia plays in the Iranian nuclear impasse.
As well as meeting Medvedev, Netanyahu is due to hold talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, officials said.
Russia has also yet to fulfil a contract to deliver sophisticated S-300 missile systems to Tehran, a deal that has worried Israel as it would significantly strengthen Iranian air defences against military action.
Israel has refused to rule out the military option if Iran appeared on the brink of acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The deputy secretary of the Russian security council Vladimir Nazarov said Sunday there was no reason not to send Iran the S-300 missile system, saying a "contract was signed which we must fulfil."
The deputy head of Russia's agency for military-technical cooperation, Alexander Fomin, said the delivery of the weapons had been delayed as technical shortcomings had been identified, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Iran declared on Tuesday it had started the process of producing 20-percent enriched uranium as the United States stepped up its efforts to pass a new round of sanctions against Tehran by the United Nations Security Council.
Israel, considered to be the Middle East's sole, if undeclared, nuclear power, considers Iran its top enemy after statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Jewish state was doomed to be "wiped off the map".
Bringing Moscow on board for harsher sanctions has been a key goal of Israel and the United States. Russia has long-standing ties with Tehran and is helping to build Iran's first civilian nuclear power plant in the city of Bushehr.
