Russia does not exclude more nuclear cooperation with Iran: Deputy FM

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says Moscow does not rule out the prospect of further nuclear energy cooperation with Iran under international law.   

“We do not exclude any forms of further cooperation with Iran in the peaceful nuclear sphere, although we will only pursue them in strict accordance with international law and the agreement we are working on right now,” Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday.

He said it was “premature” to discuss opportunities for such cooperation but stressed that it could come “in all shapes and sizes, including those without any precedent.”

The Russian official, however, stressed that Russia’s cooperation with Iran in the nuclear technology field is and will be in accordance with international non-proliferation treaties.

Last month, Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said Tehran and Moscow were “close to reaching final agreements on the construction of two power plants” in Iran’s southern province of Bushehr before the end of the current Persian calendar year (ending March 2015).

Russia completed the construction of Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr, which had begun in 1975 by German companies but was halted following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) became officially operational and was connected to Iran’s national grid in September 2011, generating electricity at a 40-percent capacity.

The 1,000-megawatt plant, which is operating under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reached its maximum power generation capacity in August 2012.

In September 2013, Iran officially took over from Russia the first unit of its first 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant for two years.