Iran urges Azerbaijan to release Russian nuclear equipment

13:54 | 27/ 04/ 2008

TEHRAN, April 27 (RIA Novosti) – Iran has urged Azerbaijan to release a
Russian shipment of nuclear equipment for Iran’s first nuclear power
plant, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

A column of vehicles carrying heat insulators for the Bushehr nuclear
power plant, which the Russian contractor, Atomstroyexport, is building
in the southwest of the Islamic Republic, was stopped at the border
between Azerbaijan and Iran in late March.

"The Russian side is seeking to solve the problem as soon as possible
within its competence. On our part, we have asked Azerbaijan’s
ambassador in Tehran to take measures for the delivery of the
consignment to Iran," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali
Hosseini said.

The Iranian diplomat said the shipment of the nuclear power equipment
complied with international law and there was no ban regarding the
consignment.

Azeri customs officials earlier said the cargo needed a special permit,
which the Russian contractor had failed to supply.

Iran is currently under three sets of UN sanctions over its uranium
program. The latest resolution against Iran froze accounts of certain
Iranian companies and banks, and introduced inspections for goods
leaving and entering the Islamic Republic.

Russia delivered its final and eighth fuel shipment to Bushehr on
January 28. Russia has supplied a total of 82 metric tons of
low-enriched uranium to the light-water nuclear power plant. Iran hopes
its first nuclear power plant will be launched in October.