MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow still hopes for a resumption of talks between Iran and the UN's nuclear watchdog, the head of Russia's Security Council said Tuesday at a RIA Novosti news conference.
"The adoption of UN resolution 1737 on Iran [imposing sanctions against the country] did not in any way imply a shutdown of the talks process. On the contrary, the adoption was aimed at pushing Iran toward more active cooperation with the IAEA," Igor Ivanov said.
The resolution, adopted one month ago, banned activities involving uranium enrichment, chemical reprocessing, heavy water-based projects, and production of nuclear weapons delivery systems. Tehran, which denies international allegations that its nuclear program is geared towards creating weapons, responded to the sanctions by saying it would review its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Russia is a key economic partner of Iran, and is building a $1 billion nuclear power plant at Bushehr, in the south of the country. At talks in Tehran on Sunday with Igor Ivanov, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad highlighted the historical links between the nations, and their shared interests in international and regional security, and cooperation in the energy sphere.
Ivanov said at the news conference that Russia will deliver nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr NPP in line with technological requirements, and under strict IAEA monitoring.
He said work to commission the plant is proceeding on schedule, and it will be launched in late 2007.
However, he said Moscow supported IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei's proposal to declare time-out in talks on the Iranian nuclear file.
"This means Iran suspends its work on enriching uranium, and at the same time the UN Security Council freezes the validity of resolution 1737," he said.
