In the latest step to gain Russia's sincerity and firmness on the Teheran-Moscow nuclear deals, Zamani Nia, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's general director for international policy issues, traveled to Russia on Tuesday to discuss nuclear non-proliferation issues, the Interfax news agency reported.

The visit came after last month's announcement from Moscow that it planned to expand its nuclear cooperation with Teheran beyond existing projects, despite Washington lumping Iran as part of an "axis of evil."

Meanwhile, commenting about environmental group Greenpeace's concerns about nuclear waste, Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said on Wednesday his country had signed all agreements necessary for it to import radioactive fuel waste from an Iranian power plant.

Russia's under-construction US$800-million station, a project initiated by German firm Siemens and abandoned after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, is expected to be operational in early 2004. Once the Bushehr plant goes online, it is expected to generate more than 30,000 megawatts of electricity, accounting for 3 percent of Iran's total electricity production.

The station, however, has remained a sticking point in otherwise warm US-Russian ties, ushered in by Russian President Vladimir Putin's steadfast support for the war in Afghanistan and other action against terror.

The potential Iranian-Russian nuclear cooperation was listed as a top US concern for territorial security and even more so after Russia approved in July a program of long-term cooperation with Iran to build several nuclear reactors.

The United States says Iran's real purpose in expanding its civil nuclear capabilities is not to procure energy, but to acquire the expertise and equipment for nuclear weapons, especially as Iran has vast natural energy reserves.

Besides urging Moscow to cease all nuclear programs with Teheran, the United States has even declared its intention to strike threats to its national security, which the United States and Israeli intelligence suggest may be jeopardized by the Bushehr plant.

Israel also views the facility as a threat to its security, but Israeli experts rule out a military strike in the near future.

Iran and Russia have shrugged off such protests, saying the nuclear plant would only serve civilian purposes and remain under international control.

Hossein Afarideh, chairman of the Iranian Parliament Energy Commission, told the Teheran Times that Iran's arch enemies were "basically trying to distract world opinion from the fact that the Islamic Republic is a peace-loving country and would have the world believe that it is a threat to peace."

The official stressed that the International Atomic Energy Agency was keeping a close watch on the Bushehr facility by scheduling 70 inspection missions this year to check plant activities.

To Teheran's dismay, Russia made an apparent concession to the United States early this month by announcing "political factors" would determine if it went through with plans to vastly expand its nuclear cooperation with Teheran.

While still pinning hopes on Russia's firm stance on the cooperation, the Teheran Times said the expansion between the two countries would safeguard mutual interests and the promotion of bilateral ties would significantly boost Russian credibility from a foreign policy point of view.

The English-language daily said enhanced Russian credibility in the international arena would help it shed an image of "heeding US interventionist remarks to the detriment of its national interests."

Responding to possible foreign attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said: "Our forces will retaliate firmly and with all the means at our disposal to any aggression."

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2002)