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Subject:
After a meeting with the POTUS in Singapore, Russian President issues a warning to Iran.
DarthAmerica
11/16/2009 2:07:22 PM
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| November 17, 2009
More Delays for Iranian Nuclear Power Plant
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
MOSCOW?Russia?s energy minister said on Monday that a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran that is a focal point in the ongoing dispute over Iran?s nuclear ambitions would not come online by the end of the year as planned.
The launch of the plant at Bushehr in southern Iran has been plagued with setbacks since Russia began work on the facility in the mid-1990s, with Russian officials often appearing to use the project to gain diplomatic leverage in negotiations with Iran?s leaders.
?We expect serious results by the end of the year, but the launch itself will not occur,? Sergei Shmatko, the energy minister, said at a news conference in Moscow, according to the Ria Novosti news ngency. He vowed that the Bushehr plant would be completed, but said the launch date would depend on security guarantees at the facility.
Mr. Shmatko denied that politics played any role in the delay, saying that ?technical issues? were responsible.
There was no immediate response from Iran?s top leaders, though some hard-line members of Iran?s Parliament reacted angrily to the announcement. Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, a member of Parliament, called Russia ?dishonest.?
?If we wait another 200 years, the Russians will not complete the plant,? he said, according to Iran?s ISNA news agency. ?It is naive to believe that the Russians are cooperating with us.?
Monday?s announcement came a day after Russia?s president, Dmitry A. Medvedev, expressed frustration with the pace of negations over Iran?s nuclear program. Speaking after a meeting in Singapore with President Obama on Sunday, Mr. Medvedev indicated that Russia might support sanctions against Tehran if no agreements were reached soon.
Russia?s leaders have said they oppose efforts by Iran to build a nuclear weapon, but have joined the Iranians in insisting that the Bushehr plant would be for civilian use only.
The head of Russia?s state nuclear company, Sergei V.Kiriyenko, said in February that Russia planned to bring the Bushehr plant online by the end of 2009. Shortly after, Iran conducted what it said was a successful test of the plant?s reactor.
Russia signed a contract to complete the plant in 1995, resuming work on a project that the German company, Siemens, began in the 1970s only to withdraw from Iran after the 1979 revolution.
Russia delivered its first shipment of enriched-uranium fuel rods to Bushehr in 2007, under an agreement that would require Iran to send the spent nuclear fuel back to Russia for disposal.
At the time, Western diplomats hoped the arrangement could persuade Iran to give up its own uranium enrichment program, though Iran as so far refused to do so.
Rather, Iran has continued to pursue what it says is a civilian nuclear program, giving mixed signals about its willingness to accept a proposal to ship its enriched uranium to a third country for processing.
Of late, Russia has appeared to acquiesce to increased pressure from the United States and Europe to take a stronger stance with regard to Iran.
Responding in part to criticism from the United States and Israel, Russia has so far failed to make good on a deal with Iran to deliver an advanced surface-to-air missile system called the S-300. The delays have angered Iran?s leaders, who have long coveted the system for protection from possible air strikes against their country?s nuclear sites.
Last week, Iran?s defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, suggested that a failure to deliver the system could undermine relations between Iran and Russia.
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There is more to this. I'll post updates when they are available.
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