Russia Relaxes Ban on Nuclear Equipment Exports to Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russia has eased an export ban on nuclear equipment and technology to Iran, a Kremlin decree published on Monday showed.
The decree said Russian firms were now authorized to export hardware and to provide financial and technical advice to help Iran with three specific tasks, Reuters reported.
They were listed as helping it modify two cascades at its Fordow uranium enrichment plant, supporting Iranian efforts to export enriched uranium in exchange for raw uranium supplies, and helping Iran modernize its Arak heavy water reactor.
The decree was issued on the same day as Putin arrived in Iran on an official visit to attend the third Summit of leaders of the GECF (Gas Exporting Countries Forum) member states underway in Tehran.
The presidents of Iran, Bolivia, Russia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, and Turkmenistan as well as Algeria’s prime minister are attending the Monday meeting.
The Summit affords GECF member states the opportunity to discuss at the highest level developments, trends, and policies on energy in general and gas in particular and also to reaffirm their continued support to the objectives of the Forum.
The forum, founded in 2001, unites leading natural gas exporting countries and coordinates cooperation between its member states.
Iran, Russia, Algeria, the UAE, Venezuela, Qatar, Egypt, Bolivia, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago are the members of the forum and the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Peru, Iraq, Oman, Norway and the Azerbaijan Republic hold observer status.