MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti)-Russia and Iran remain committed to constructing a nuclear power plant in the Persian Gulf country, the speaker of the Iranian parliament said Tuesday.
Speaking after a meeting with Sergei Mironov, the speaker of Russia's upper chamber of parliament, Gholam-Ali-Haddad-Adel said: "We confirmed [our] intention to complete the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the near future."
The $800-million project has been subject to intense international scrutiny in recent times, as Iran has come under the microscope for alleged nuclear ambitions. Although the Islamic Republic says it only wants to develop nuclear power for civilian use, several countries, led by the United States, suspect it of running a secret nuclear weapons program.
Controversial comments about Israel made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have fuelled tension, as his calls for the Jewish state to be "wiped from the map" or latterly moved to Europe have brought widespread condemnation, and increased calls for the Iranian "nuclear file" to be transferred to the UN Security Council. The body has the power to impose sanctions if it finds Iran has failed to honor the obligations it undertook with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
The Iranian speaker also told the assembled press in Moscow that he had discussed Russia's continuing cooperation with the Islamic world.
"I said that Iran would use its influence and promote the interaction process between Russia and the Islamic world both in Russia itself and abroad," he said.
Despite disagreements over the treatment of Muslims in the troubled North Caucasus of Chechnya, Russia, which is home to 20 million Muslims, has been proactively working to improve its ties with the Islamic world, and joined the Organization of the Islamic Conference this year as an observer.
