Russia will Keep Fuel Delivery to Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia says the UN Security Council resolutions do not legally prevent Moscow from completing nuclear fuel shipment to Iran’s Bushehr plant.

Moscow is obliged to provide Iran with nuclear fuel as part of an agreement signed between the two countries to build Bushehr power plant and the shipment is totally legal, Russian ambassador to Kuwait Alexander Kinshchak said in an interview with al-Watan daily.

“Russia is committed to the contract as long as it comes within the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” he added.

The UN Security Council has so far imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities, press tv reported.

The envoy noted Russia’s cooperation with Iran would be an opportunity for surveillance, and guarantees that the fuel would be used only for peaceful purposes.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in October that political obstacles would not hinder the completion of Bushehr plant.

“Among the six parties, there is a full understanding that the work at Bushehr has no proliferation risks,” ITAR-TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

Under a contract signed in 1995, Russia’s Atomstroyexport has been helping Iran in the construction of a nuclear power plant capable of generating some 1,000 megawatts of electricity annually.

The Russian company also trains Iranian specialists and has so far delivered eight fuel shipments to the reactor.

Israel, which along with the US accuses Iran of developing a secret nuclear weapons program, says it is not ‘pleased’ with Russia’s policy on Iran. Tel Aviv has called on Moscow to re-evaluate the threat Israel believes Iran may pose.

The UN nuclear watchdog, which has extensively monitored Iran’s nuclear activities since 2003, said in its latest Iran report that its inspectors have not found any ‘components of a nuclear weapon’ or ‘related nuclear physics studies’ in the country.