Russia Presses Iran Over Nukes.

(From The Moscow Times)

The head of Iran's nuclear energy program, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, arrived Monday on a four-day visit to discuss cooperation with Russia, and the first thing he heard was that Iran should do as the West is urging and allow tougher inspections.

Aghazadeh, who is also Iran's deputy prime minister, began his tour with a visit to the Foreign Ministry, where he met with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to discuss Russia's construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Aghazadeh denied allegations that Iran is secretly pursuing a nuclear arms program, to which the Bushehr plant may contribute. Iranian-Russian cooperation is "transparent and within the framework of international law," he said.

Ivanov told Aghazadeh that Russia remains committed to completing the plant as long as the project "strictly adheres" to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, of which both Moscow and Tehran are signatories.

While praising Iran as an "important partner," he made clear that Moscow would like Tehran to sign an addition protocol to the treaty allowing the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct random and more comprehensive inspections of its nuclear program.

Doing so would "be another confirmation of the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program as well as of the close cooperation of Iran and [the IAEA]," Ivanov was quoted as saying in his ministry's official account of the talks.