Russian and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday on the construction of small nuclear power plants in Iran, the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.
The agreement was signed by Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev and Iran's top nuclear official, Mohammad Eslami, at a meeting in Moscow. Rosatom described it as a "strategic project."
Eslami, who is also Iran's vice president, told Iranian state media earlier this week that the plan was to construct eight nuclear power plants as Tehran seeks to reach 20 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2040.
Iran, which suffers from electricity shortages during high-demand months, has only one operating nuclear power plant, in the southern city of Bushehr. It was built by Russia and has a capacity of around 1 GW.
Russia and Iran sign nuclear power memo
Russia has close relations with Iran and condemned US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year that were carried out with the stated aim of preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
Iran says it has no such intention.
The European nations accuse Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies having any such intention, and Russia says it supports Tehran's right to peaceful nuclear energy.
Eslami, who is also Iran's vice president, told Iranian state media that bilateral cooperation agreements would be signed during his visit to Russia, including a plan to construct eight nuclear power plants as Tehran seeks to reach 20 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2040.
“Contract negotiations have taken place, and with the signing of the agreement this week, we will enter the operational steps,” Eslami said.