Iran is to kick off the bidding for its 19 planned nuclear power plants in the “near future”, an Iranian MP was quoted as saying, a move that is sure to further increase tensions between Tehran and the West.
“The contract for building 19 power plants… will in the near future be put on an international tender,” said Kazem Jalali, a spokesman for parliament’s national security committee, reported the Iran News daily on Monday.
Jalali said each of the plants would have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, according to the newspaper.
The MP’s remarks come just a week after Tehran and Moscow confirmed Russia had delivered the first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power station.
Bushehr, which is nearing completion, will be Iran’s first nuclear power station.
Russian officials have said the power station could start operating within six months of the fuel being delivered.
The US and other Western powers such as the UK and France have been pushing hard for a third UN sanctions resolution against Iran over its nuclear programme, but have so far been unable to convince fellow Security Council members Russia and China to back it.
Iran has already had two rounds of sanctions imposed on it for failing to halt uranium enrichment, through which the West believes Tehran wants to build atomic bombs.
Iran has said on numerous occasions it only wants the fuel for peaceful purposes.
Earlier this month, a US intelligence report said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, an announcement that has embarrassed the White House and raised questions as to whether a third UN sanctions resolution is really necessary.
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