TEHRAN: Iran and Russia have signed a $25 billion agreement to construct nuclear power plants in Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday. The deal comes just hours before the anticipated reinstatement of sweeping United Nations sanctions on Iran.
“A deal for the construction of four nuclear power plants with a value of $25 billion in Sirik, Hormozgan, was signed between the Iran Hormoz company and Rosatom,” state television said.
According to state news agency IRNA, each plant will have a capacity of 1,255 megawatts, though no details were provided on the timeline.
The development comes as so-called “snapback” sanctions—reinstated by the European signatories of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal—are expected to take effect by the end of Saturday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has never sought, and will never seek, to build nuclear weapons, insisting that Iran does not aim to develop a nuclear bomb.
“I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said during his address at the UN.
It is pertinent to mention that on August 28, Britain, France, and Germany launched a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions that ends on September 27, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.
The European powers have offered to delay reinstating sanctions for up to six months to allow space for talks on a long-term deal if Iran restores access for UN nuclear inspectors, addresses concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engages in talks with the United States.
During a UN Security Council session on Friday, China and Russia proposed a draft resolution calling for a six-month extension to allow further diplomatic negotiations. However, the proposal is unlikely to gain enough support to pass.
Western nations have long alleged that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon—an accusation Tehran strongly denies.
The United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018, prompting Tehran to gradually roll back its commitments under the deal.
Efforts to revive the accord through negotiations between Washington and Tehran were underway, but were disrupted by a wave of unprecedented Israeli strikes on Iran in June, which sparked a 12-day conflict briefly involving the United States.
Iran previously signed a nuclear energy agreement with Russia in 1993, paving the way for the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The project had originally been initiated by Germany but was abandoned following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
