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Russia, Iran committed to expand cooperation

23 May 2014 23:27 (UTC+04:00)
Russia, Iran committed to expand cooperation

By Sara Rajabova

Iran and Russia are committed to further develop their relations despite the ongoing pressures from international powers.

The recent meeting of the Iranian and Russian presidents at the sidelines of the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Shanghai has once again demonstrated their staunch alliance.

"Cooperation between Russia and Iran will continue despite the international turbulence," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with his Iranian counterpart.

Putin noted that Russia and Iran are two old neighbors and reliable partners, adding that the two countries share similar stances even under critical global conditions.

"We need to tap into our vast potentialities to further boost the ties. Tehran and Moscow shoulder a heavy responsibility to safeguard the stability, security and development of the Caspian Sea region," Putin said.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in turn said the relations between the two countries have become warmer and more trusting in recent years.

Russia and Iran plan to boost cooperation in nuclear energy, military and the energy fields.

Russia, one of the six powers, plans to build eight new reactors for nuclear power plants in Iran.

Moscow may sign a contract with Teheran this year to build eight new reactors for nuclear power plants in Iran, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters.

Two reactors could be built at the Bushehr Power Plant and six reactors at other sites, the source said, adding that the talks were in their final stage.

Iran officially took over the first unit of the plant from Russia for two years in September 2013, the final acceptance and submission for industrial operation is scheduled for 2015.

Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom had earlier pointed to its negotiations with Iran on the potential construction of more reactors, but it has not made any comments on the news so far.

Moscow's plans to construct new reactors in Iran come after the recent talks between the six world powers and Iran, which ended without any progress.

Meanwhile, the United States expressed concern about the possible construction of new Russian power blocks in Iran.

"Obviously, it would be a cause of concern. We have raised this issue before," US State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Russia and Iran's plans to build new reactors will impact the sensitive nuclear talks.

Iran rejected the demands to decrease its uranium enrichment capacity, which has caused anxiety of the West.

After the harsh critics by the Western countries over the Ukraine events, Russia intended to strengthen its military ties with its allies also in the military sphere.

Russia and Iran agreed on developing their military and military-technical cooperation.

RIA Novosti quoted military expert Igor Korotchenko, as saying that Iran could become a new major partner of Russia on military cooperation in the face of the deteriorating relations with the West.

Korochenko said it makes sense to implement the previously signed contract to supply Iran with anti-aircraft missile systems S-300.

Iran and Russia signed a contract to supply Iran with five battalions of S-300 (modification of PMU-1) with value of about $ 800 million in 2007. Three years later, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Iran, imposing sanctions against it, which includes a ban on the transfer of modern weapons.

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