Iran and Russia signed a $25 billion deal to build nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic, Iranian state media reported Friday, just hours ahead of the likely return of sweeping UN sanctions on Iran.
“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,” state television said.
Iran has just one operational nuclear power plant in Bushehr in the south, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts — just a fraction of the country’s energy needs.
According to state news agency IRNA, each plant will have a capacity of 1,255 megawatts, though no details were provided on the timeline.
Iran had previously signed with Russia a nuclear energy deal in 1993, allowing for the construction of the Bushehr plant, after Germany had abandoned it in the wake of the Islamic revolution of 1979.
The latest move comes as so-called snapback sanctions triggered by the European parties to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran are set to return by the end of Saturday.
Britain, France and Germany triggered the sanctions last month, accusing of Iran of failing to adhere to its commitments under the agreement.
At a Security Council session on Friday, China and Russia put forward a draft resolution to allow another half year for talks, but it is unlikely to garner enough support to pass.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but it has also enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel has also said that Iran, shortly before the June war, took steps toward weaponization.
The United States in 2018 unilaterally pulled out of the Obama-era nuclear accord with Iran, after which Tehran began walking back its commitments.
Talks between Washington and Tehran to strike a new deal were underway, but ended when Israeli strikes in June began a 12-day war that the US briefly joined, striking three underground nuclear sites, before brokering a ceasefire.
Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 31 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Tehran will scrap an agreement to let the UN watchdog inspect its nuclear sites if Western powers reinstate the sanctions on Saturday.
In a post on Telegram, Araghchi said a deal signed in Egypt this month “will remain valid as long as no hostile action is taken against Iran, including the reinstatement of United Nations Security Council resolutions that have been annulled.”
He added: “Otherwise, the Islamic Republic of Iran will consider its practical commitments terminated.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.