Tehran and Moscow sign $25 billion agreement to build nuclear plants in Iran

Iran and Russia signed a $25 billion deal to build nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic, Iranian state television reported Friday—just hours before the UN is expected to reinstate sanctions on Tehran’s regime.

An agreement was signed for the construction of four nuclear power plants, worth $25 billion, in Sirik, Hormozgan, between Iran's Hormoz and Russia's Rosatom, AFP reported.

Iran currently operates just one nuclear plant in Bushehr, in the country’s south. The facility has a capacity of 1,000 megawatts—only a fraction of Iran’s energy needs—and was built under a nuclear cooperation agreement signed with Russia in 1993.

According to Iran’s state-run IRNA agency, each of the planned plants will have a capacity of 1,255 megawatts, though no construction schedule has been disclosed.

Sanctions against the Iranian regime

The agreement comes just ahead of the so-called automatic sanctions snapback—triggered by European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran—which is set to take effect Saturday at 00:00 GMT.

The United Kingdom, France and Germany activated the sanctions mechanism last month, signaling that Iran has been reneging on its commitments.

Western countries accuse Iran of attempting to develop an atomic bomb, while Tehran denies the allegations and maintains its right to a civilian nuclear program.

Negotiations between Washington and Tehran on a new agreement were underway but were interrupted in June by Israeli attacks on Iranian targets, which sparked a 12-day war during which the United States participated in bombings of Iran's nuclear program.