"Joint ventures on Russian territory will be reliably supplying enriched uranium to Iran for all the peaceful needs of the Iranian nuclear energy industry," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Rome after talks with his Italian counterpart, Gianfranco Fini.
Russia has consistently supported Iran's plans to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and has offered to enrich Iranian uranium on its own territory to alleviate Western nations' concerns that the Islamic Republic may be pursuing a secret weapons program. Tehran has said it may accept the offer, but only if Russia provides guarantees that all enriched fuel will be returned.
Fini told journalists Iran's nuclear programs were an issue of great concern both to the Italian government and public and that assurances had to be obtained from Tehran that it would comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
