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Tehran: Iran demanded on Sunday that Azerbaijan deliver a Russian shipment of nuclear equipment blocked at its border with Iran for the past three weeks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hussaini said in his weekly briefing his country has asked the Azerbaijani ambassador in Iran to get his government "to deliver the shipment as soon as possible".
The blocked nuclear equipment "is in the framework of Iran-Russia cooperation" and there should be "no ban on it", he said about the shipment destined for a Russian-built nuclear reactor in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr.
Azerbaijan has said it was seeking more information about the shipment due to fears that it might violate UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment.
Last Monday, Russian state-run company Atomstroiexport said one or two trucks carrying the equipment for Iran were stopped two weeks ago at the town of Astara, on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.
Company spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said officials were holding talks with Azerbaijan and Iran. The shipment contained heat-isolating equipment essential to the plant's operation but the holdup was not likely to delay the startup of the plant, she said.
Iran is paying Russia more than US$1 billion (Dh3,67 billion) to build the light-water reactor at Bushehr.
Construction has been held up recently by disputes between Tehran and Moscow over payments and a schedule for shipping nuclear fuel. Russia delivered the final shipment of uranium fuel in January.
The US initially opposed Russia's building Bushehr, but later softened its position after Iran agreed to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia to ensure it does not extract plutonium from it that could be used to make atomic bombs.
Washington and Moscow have said the Russian nuclear fuel supply means Iran no longer needs to continue its uranium enrichment programme, a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb.
Outstanding issues: Tehran willing to talk
Iran said on Sunday it was willing to discuss any issue with the UN nuclear watchdog but maintained it has already answered all outstanding questions about its controversial nuclear programme.
The announcement comes only days after the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had reached a "milestone" agreement with Iran that aims to provide answers about allegations Tehran tried to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a peaceful atomic programme.
The agreement followed a visit to Iran by IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen, who is scheduled travel to the country again on Monday, according to Iran's official news agency.
The IAEA confirmed Heinonen's planned visit on Sunday but did not provide a specific date.
- AP
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