March 21 (Reuters) – Iran is ready to expand its cooperation with Russia in the energy sector, including in the development of “peaceful” nuclear energy, Iranian Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi said in an interview with Russia’s RIA state news agency.
“The prospect of cooperation in the field of ‘new energy’ and renewable energy sources, as well as in the field of other types of energy, including peaceful nuclear energy, certainly causes great interest and motivation for expanding economic relations with Russia,” Khandouzi said in remarks published on Tuesday.
Iran and Russia are cooperating to build Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. Russia started deliveries of nuclear fuel for Bushehr in late 2007, a step both Washington and Moscow said removed any need for Iran to have its own uranium enrichment programme.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
