Russia, Iran sign nuclear power plants deal as sanctions loom

The Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom claims that as Tehran has been working with Moscow to avert new sanctions over its nuclear program, that it and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding over the construction of small nuclear power plants there.

At a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday, Rosatom’s CEO Alexei Likhachev and Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s top nuclear official, signed the deal. It was described as a “strategic project” by Rosatom.

As Tehran aims to have 20GW of nuclear energy by 2040, Eslami, who is also Iran’s vice president, announced earlier this week in Iranian state media.

In Bushehr, in the southern city of Iran, one nuclear power plant is still in operation despite experiencing severe power shortages during high-demand months. It was constructed by Russia and has a 1GW capacity.

Following the UN Security Council’s decision on Friday to not permanently lift Iranian nuclear program, which means sanctions will be imposed on Iran by September 28 unless no significant agreement is reached in advance, this development comes amid looming sanctions against Iran.

Russia was one of the four countries that voted to prevent the sanctions from being reinstated.

Iran rebuffed the UNSC vote, claiming that the country’s cooperation with the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), would “effectively suspend” the country.

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany – known as the E3 – launched a 30-day process to reinstate sanctions unless Tehran fulfills their demands in the middle of August.

Tehran has been accused of breaking its nuclear commitments by, among others, building up uranium stocks that are more than 40 times that are permitted by a 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump unilaterally withdrew from during his first term. Iran was given the option to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent purity in the deal.

Iran claims in its defense that it only increased its nuclear enrichment after Trump withdrew from the deal and reinstituted sanctions against the nation. The US action is in violation of the 2015 agreement, according to Tehran.

The European trio has been accused of abusing the dispute resolution provision of the 2015 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which enables the application of sanctions through a “snapback mechanism.”

New sanctions, among other things, would freeze Iranian assets abroad, put an end to arms sales to Tehran, and stifle the development of ballistic missiles.

Iran has repeatedly defended its right to pursue nuclear energy peacefully, but it has repeatedly denied doing so. Tehran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, addressed the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying the country would never seek nuclear weapons.

Tehran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared on Tuesday that the US would not engage in direct negotiations with Iran, and that any negotiations with the US would be “absolutely dead ends.”