MOSCOW (AP) - Shrugging off U.S. protests, Russia wants to build six nuclear reactors in Iran and help Iran explore for oil in the coveted Caspian Sea, the government said Friday in a resolution certain to complicate Moscow's warming relations with Washington.
The government released a 10-year proposal for cooperation with Iran that would dramatically expand ties beyond Russia's much-criticized 800 million contract for completion of a nuclear reactor at the Iranian port of Bushehr.
While U.S.-Russian relations have blossomed since President Vladimir Putin offered his support for the U.S.-led war on terror, the Bushehr deal has remained a sticking point. The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism and has said Russian assistance is helping Iran develop nuclear weapons.
Moscow has dismissed the accusations, saying the aid only serves civilian purposes and that the construction is under international control. Now, the new cooperation plan takes the nuclear deal even further: It envisages a total of six Russian-built nuclear reactors in Iran, four at Bushehr and two at a yet-to-be-built plant in Akhvaz.
Russian Nuclear Energy Ministry spokesman Nikolai Shingaryov said Russia would bid for contracts on the reactors after the first one at Bushehr is completed, likely in 2003 or 2004, according to the Interfax news agency.
The government resolution was approved by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Wednesday but still must be signed by top Russian and Iranian officials. The signing could take place at a meeting in Tehran in September, Interfax reported.
The 12-page document was worked out by Iranian and Russian representatives "taking into account the traditionally friendly relations between the two governments," and is based on principles of international law and "mutual benefit," the resolution says.
It says Russia's oil giant Slavneft and the National Iranian Drilling Company will work together to expand oil drilling in Iran, and proposes Russian help in building pipelines to bring Iranian oil to market, including one from Iran to India.
It also proposes Russian help for Iranian exploration efforts in the Caspian Sea, whose oil and gas reserves - believed to be the world's third largest - have attracted attention from the U.S. government and the world's leading oil companies.
Washington has championed pipeline routes to western markets that would skirt the Caspian's biggest players - Russia and Iran. Moscow and Tehran, meanwhile, have been in dispute with each other and the other three Caspian states over how to divide the sea's resources.
Russia and Iran also plan to work together on a global navigation system that the resolution says would be used for geological research and monitoring a transport corridor between their countries.
Russia proposes helping Iran launch communications satellites, and providing Iran with satellite photos for geological research.
The two countries hope to set up a joint venture to produce Tu-204 and Tu-334 passenger aircraft in Iran.
The U.S. Embassy had no comment on the resolution, but expressed concern about statements by a top Russian defense official Thursday that Moscow plans to sell more conventional weapons to Iran.
"We do continue to have concern about weapons supplies to Iran because it could lead to imbalance in the region, and we continue to have concern about weapons falling into the hands of terrorists," a U.S. Embassy official said Friday on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow said, "Russia has to avoid letting its desire for commercial gain end up hastening the day that (Iran, Iraq and North Korea) can pose a threat that could not only destabilize their own region, but undermine the security of the entire world."