Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanaei has described the recent agreement between Iran and Russia on building new nuclear power units as "very important".
Sanaei said, "With due regard to the current situation, signing such an agreement reflects the fact that Iran and Russia are determined to develop a long-term cooperation between the two countries."
"Iran and Russia take decisions based on their national interests without paying attention to pressure from third parties," Sanaei wrote in his weblog in the Russian social networking site "Life Journal" on Thursday, IRNA reported.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation, Rosatom, this week signed an agreement to build two new nuclear power plant units in the southern port city of Bushehr.
Under the agreement, Moscow will also cooperate with Tehran on the construction of more nuclear power plants and consider producing nuclear fuel components there.
Iran already runs one Russian-built reactor in the Bushehr power plant which generates 1,000 megawatts of electricity. The plant, whose construction was delayed for years, was officially launched in September 2011.
Elsewhere, Sanaei said “The agreement proves that in addition to the dialogue, the administration of President (Hassan Rouhani) is holding with the West, it attaches great importance to relations with Russia.”
He also said, the signing of a memorandum to explore the possibilities of joint production of nuclear fuel indicate that “Russia wants to have a constructive role in Iran’s nuclear case in order to promote cooperation with Tehran and contribute to the ongoing nuclear talks between the P5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) and Iran.”
The Los Angeles Times in an Article on Wednesday said, by the conclusion of the nuclear construction deal with Iran, the Russians may be seeking to urge the US and its allies to show "flexibility" in the nuclear talks or otherwise they "might allow Iran to get into the game of supplying its own nuclear fuel needs."
