Russia vows to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons

Russia will do its utmost to prevent emergence of nuclear weapons in Iran, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov pledged on Tuesday.

Speaking to German and Italian reporters on the eve of his tourto Germany and Italy, Ivanov said Russia has close stand with Europe over Iran's nuclear problem, which is very important in themedium-term perspective.

"Russia will do all it can to prevent the emergence of nuclear weapons in Iran," Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Ivanov's remark came two days after the signing of a key nuclear fuel agreement between Russia and Iran, which removed the last obstacle to the launch of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant that is being built with Russia's aid.

Both countries have denied Western accusations that the 800-million-dollar project could be used to develop nuclear weapons, stressing that it is being built for peaceful and civil purposes.

Russia has conditioned delivery of nuclear fuel to Iran on the accord assuring all spent fuel would be returned to Russia, in order to prevent Iran from making nuclear weapons with spent fuel.

However, the repeated failures to reach such an agreement have delayed the operation of the Bushehr nuclear plant, which would become operational in October 2006, a year behind the original schedule.

Source: Xinhua