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Moscow: Russia's delivery of nuclear fuel to Iran makes it unnecessary for the country to pursue uranium enrichment, Russia's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Russia this month delivered the first shipment of nuclear fuel to Bushehr nuclear plant, which Russian engineers are building under a $1 billion contract.
"We believe that Iran has no economic need to proceed with its programme of uranium enrichment," Sergei Lavrov told the Moscow daily Veremya Novostei.
Lavrov said Russia is trying to persuade Iranians that a freeze in the programme "is to their advantage" as it would lead to talks with countries in the UN Security Council.
Such talks, he said, would aim to end any suspicion that Iran had any secret aim to produce nuclear weapons. "Iran's agreement to this proposal is in everyone's interest."
He said that Iran is also aware that Russia "will freeze cooperation" if there is a breach in deals to build Bushehr under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
US President George W. Bush said the delivery could help efforts to persuade Iran to halt enrichment, but a senior Iranian official said the delivery had nothing to do with it.
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