Iran and Russia signed a $25 billion deal to construct nuclear power plants in Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday, just hours ahead of the likely return of sweeping UN sanctions on Iran.
State television announced: “A deal for the construction of four nuclear power plants with a value of $25 billion in Sirik, Hormozgan, was signed between the Iran Hormoz company and Rosatom.”
Iran currently possesses only one operational nuclear power plant in Bushehr, located in the south, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts—a mere fraction of the country’s overall energy needs. According to state news agency IRNA, each of the new plants will have a capacity of 1,255 megawatts, though a specific timeline for construction was not provided.
The deal comes as the so-called ‘snapback’ sanctions, triggered by the European parties to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, are set to be reimposed by the end of Saturday. Britain, France, and Germany initiated the sanctions last month, accusing Iran of failing to adhere to its commitments under the agreement.
At a Security Council session on Friday, China and Russia proposed a draft resolution to allow for another six months of talks, but it is considered unlikely to garner enough support to pass.
Western countries have long accused Iran of seeking to develop an atomic bomb—a charge Tehran vehemently denies, defending its right to a civilian nuclear program. The United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear accord with Iran in 2018, prompting Tehran to begin walking back its own commitments.
Talks between Washington and Tehran to strike a new deal were ongoing but were derailed by the unprecedented Israeli strikes on Iran in June, which sparked a 12-day conflict that the United States briefly joined.
Iran had previously signed a nuclear energy deal with Russia in 1993, which allowed for the completion of the Bushehr plant after Germany abandoned its construction following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
