Iran gets first nuclear fuel
2007-12-17 17:47
Moscow - Russia has delivered the first
shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr atomic power station,
a step Western powers worried by Tehran's nuclear ambitions had
urged Moscow not to take.
Anticipating a diplomatic storm over the announcement,
Russia said on Monday that Tehran had given it assurances the
fuel sent to Bushehr would not be used for other purposes and it
urged Tehran to drop its uranium enrichment programme.
But a senior Iranian official said the country would under
no circumstances halt its enrichment programme. Foreign powers
fear the enriched uranium could be used in a nuclear bomb.
Russia is building Iran's first ever nuclear power station
at Bushehr under a $1bn contract and has been delaying
delivery of the fuel for months, citing payment problems.
Analysts say the true reasons were disquiet in Moscow about
the radical style of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
the sensitivity of shipping uranium to a country under
international sanctions over its nuclear programme.
In a statement on Monday, Russia's foreign ministry said the
project was back on track: "On December 16 the delivery of fuel
began from Russia to the Iranian atomic power station in
Bushehr."
The ministry also said delivering fuel to
Bushehr made Iran's own enrichment programme redundant and that
Iran should take the opportunity to halt enrichment.