Iran’s ambassador to Moscow on Monday said Russia could build the Islamic republic a second nuclear power reactor in exchange for massive oil shipments that have raised grave concern in Washington.
Ambassador Mehdi Sanaei said the two close trading partners have been negotiating Iran’s delivery of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day since a meeting at a regional summit in September between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Hassan Rouhani.
Russian officials had previously neither confirmed nor denied the discussions. But they stressed that such deliveries would not break existing UN sanctions on the Islamic state.
However, Washington and the EU have imposed their own restrictions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme that also penalise countries and companies dealing in certain areas with Iran.
