Iran, Russia FMs discuss new nuclear plant construction

Russia and Iranian officials met on Thursday to discuss the construction of new nuclear plants in Iran, Tehran’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter that he travelled to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to develop cooperation between the two countries and speed up the plants’ construction.

Abdollahian said Moscow and Tehran would instate a period of “excellent cooperation”, according to the Anadolu news agency.

While Western states have viewed Iran’s activities with suspicion, Russia has long backed Tehran in its nuclear activities. Russia built Iran’s first nuclear power plant in 2012 in the southern city of Bushehr.

The latest talks follow agreements made in 2014 to build two further facilities in the Middle Eastern country.

Iran is currently engaged in talks with Western states to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which was effectively terminated by the Trump administration's unilateral withdrawal from the deal.

The current round of talks resumed on 27 December after adding some new Iranian demands to a working text.

Western states have repeatedly said that time was running out without setting a deadline for the end of talks.

Western diplomats previously indicated they were hoping to have a breakthrough over the next few weeks, but sharp differences remain with the toughest issues still unresolved. Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.