It’s been no secret that Russia has been getting more heavily involved in Iran’s nuclear program, and interestingly at a moment Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran on the question of uranium enrichment and a new nuclear monitoring deal.
On Monday, in a surprise headline given the massive, ambitious scope, Iranian state sources have said Russia will construct eight nuclear power plants in Iran, two of which are already under construction.
“Russia is contracted to build eight nuclear power plants in Iran, including four in the southern city of Bushehr,” Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the national security and foreign policy committee, announced on Monday.
This marks a monumental leap forward in the Iran-Russia relationship, after the two have deepened military cooperation in relation to the Ukraine war (where Russian forces have heavily relied on Iranian Shahed drones), given that a mere several years ago, Moscow was not even ready to sell Iran nuclear fuel.
But EIGHT? Some critics have denounced this as but PR nonsense and a disservice to the Iranian people, given that by some estimates Russia has already taken over a billion dollars from Iran for rebuilding just one Bushehr nuclear site with hardly any progress to show.
For example, of prior problems and severe timeline setbacks one industry source described:
Iran has one operating nuclear reactor, a 1,000-MW Russian-designed VVER unit at the southern port city of Bushehr, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Two more VVER-1000 units are under construction at the site. Work on Unit 2 began in 2019, with commercial operation now expected in 2029 after earlier reports said the unit could come online last year. Iranian media reported that installation of safety equipment in Unit 2 began earlier in February, along with excavation works for the water cooling pump houses of both units.
Russian state media appears to also be confirming the announcement and hugely ambitious agreement:
Russia to build EIGHT nuclear power plants in Iran — Tehran’s National Security spox pic.twitter.com/7lgx5ycSUE
— RT (@RT_com) June 9, 2025
According to a broader background on Iranian and Russian energy cooperation from Arms Control Association:
The conclusion of an agreement in which Russia will supply Iran with nuclear fuel for a 1,000-megawatt light-water nuclear power reactor marks the latest step in a decade-long controversy.
Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy Director Alexander Rumyantsev announced Feb. 27 that Tehran and Moscow had finally signed off on a deal to supply fuel for the reactor near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr for a period of 10 years. Although the United States has long opposed the reactor project, the Bush administration did not publicly criticize the agreement.
In 1995, Russia agreed to finish the reactor project, which is widely reported to be worth about $800 million. The original German contractor abandoned the project following Iran’s 1979 revolution.
A final deal was delayed several times as the two sides negotiated a provision that requires Iran to return the spent reactor fuel to Russia. The arrangement was designed to reduce the risk that Iran will separate plutonium from the spent fuel. Separated plutonium can be used as fissile material in nuclear weapons. (See ACT, October 2003.)
Iran does not have a known facility for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to obtain plutonium, although Tehran has conducted related experiments.
Russia and Iran have in recent years strengthened their bilateral cooperation around energy, with President Putin touting that two countries have achieved a “comprehensive strategic partnership” which sets “ambitious goals and outlines guidelines for deepening bilateral cooperation in the long term.”
Iran is expanding its Bushehr nuclear power plant by building the second and third units of the facility.
The reactor is designed in accordance with the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Follow: https://t.co/mLGcUTSA3Q pic.twitter.com/7vi9v0rNvA
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) June 9, 2025
All of this is of course set amid the backdrop of biting US-led sanctions targeting both Russian and Iranian economies and societies. Both have relied on BRICS and non-aligned countries to meet their growing military-industrial needs.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 06/09/2025 – 17:35
