Sergei Kiriyenko and Iran's nuclear chief held talks on Tuesday on bilateral cooperation, including on the controversial Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which Russia is helping to build 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
"Our cooperation in the construction of the Bushehr NPP corresponds to all international norms, and I don't see any obstacles to continuing it," Kiriyenko told a news conference at the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power.
"It is absolutely clear that the construction of an NPP at Bushehr does not touch upon security or nonproliferation issues from any point of view," he said.
Negotiators for the Islamic Republic are currently in talks with European Union officials in Berlin, on a package of incentives being offered by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment and return to full negotiations.
The U.S. and other UN Security Council members have pushed for sanctions against Iran over fears that it is pursuing a nuclear weapons program, but have met with resistance from veto-holding members Russia and China. Russia has consistently defended Iran's right to civilian nuclear power.
Last Monday, Kiriyenko told journalists on the sidelines of the 50th International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna that the Bushehr NPP in southern Iran would be launched in November 2007.
