Vladimir Putin: Iran's Bushehr nuclear power to be launched this summer
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Iran's first nuclear power plant is due to come online this summer.
Putin made his remarks at a meeting on nuclear-industry matters today in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk, RFE/RL reported.
Russia has been helping Iran build the facility near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr since the mid-1990s, but its launch has been slowed by several delay
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a visit to Moscow on Thursday warned Russia against launching the plant until Tehran proves that it's not pursuing atomic weapons.
"If it reassures the world, or if its behavior is changed because of international sanctions, then they can pursue peaceful, civil nuclear power. In the absence of those reassurances, we think it would be premature to go forward with any project at this time, because we want to send an unequivocal message to the Iranians," she said at a briefing following her talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Putin made his remarks at a meeting on nuclear-industry matters today in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk, RFE/RL reported.
Russia has been helping Iran build the facility near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr since the mid-1990s, but its launch has been slowed by several delay
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a visit to Moscow on Thursday warned Russia against launching the plant until Tehran proves that it's not pursuing atomic weapons.
"If it reassures the world, or if its behavior is changed because of international sanctions, then they can pursue peaceful, civil nuclear power. In the absence of those reassurances, we think it would be premature to go forward with any project at this time, because we want to send an unequivocal message to the Iranians," she said at a briefing following her talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
