Moscow, May 05: Iran is not violating its commitments to the UN nuclear watchdog, Russia's Atomic Energy Minister told a top US arms control official here today. The US under-secretary of state for arms control, John Bolton, held talks with Russian atomic energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev mainly to discuss Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran, the US embassy in Moscow said. "Rumyantsev and Bolton agreed at the meeting that there are no grounds today for saying that Iran is violating its commitments to the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency)," an atomic energy ministry source informed. The United States accuses Tehran of using the development of nuclear power stations as a mask for a weapons programme that would be illicit under the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The treaty has been signed by 188 countries including Iran.
Washington has been seeking to pressure Russia -- which is helping Iran build its first nuclear facility in the southern city of Bushehr -- into ending atomic cooperation with Tehran. Russia insists that its nuclear aid to Iran is for purely civilian purposes but admitted last month that it was concerned that Tehran may be enriching uranium with a view to developing nuclear weapons.
Bolton arrived in Moscow late yesterday for a day of non-proliferation talks with Russian officials focussed on Iran and the crisis over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programme. Bureau Report