Iranian men look at a model of a train at the stand of the Russian company Yuzhno-Uralskiy Heavy Engineering yesterday during the Russia National Industrial Exhibition in Tehran. — AFP

TEHRAN: Russia will start constructing two nuclear reactors in Iran next week, the spokesman for the Iranian atomic agency said yesterday. It comes a year after Tehran signed a contract with Moscow to build two reactors at the existing Russian-built Bushehr power plant in southern Iran. Work on the two reactors "will commence next week," the state television website quoted Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying. A series of agreements signed between the two countries last year foresees eventually increasing the total number of Russian-built reactors in the country to nine.

The start of construction follows a historic deal between Iran and world powers in July that ends a decade-long standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. The accord does not limit Iran's development of civilian nuclear sites. Construction of the two reactors will be bankrolled by Iran, Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom, said last year. Iran plans to build 20 more nuclear plants in the future, including four in Bushehr, to decrease its dependence on oil and gas. Russia backed Iran during two years of nuclear negotiations with six world powers. The two countries have recently allied to prop up Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad against opposition and jihadist groups, mainly the Islamic State organization.

Rare Iran visit

In another development, the president of the French Senate has criticized new US visa regulations that penalize Europeans who have visited Iran, saying they send the "wrong signal". Gerard Larcher was speaking during a trip to Iran aimed at strengthening relations with France following a landmark deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program in return for a lifting of sanctions. The US measures "can be seen in Tehran as a sign of mistrust" and do not contribute to building confidence with Iran, he told reporters late Monday.

The US bill, passed by Congress on Friday, bars citizens from 38 countries and who are also dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan from using a visa waiver program. It also requires people who have travelled to those four countries since 2011, or to a country Washington has listed as supporting terrorism, to apply for a standard visa, deeming them a risk. "I think it sends the wrong signal... from a democratic country, the great American democracy," Larcher said. He said the move was at odds with the International Atomic Energy Agency's recent closure of its investigation into Iran's past efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

The end of the probe into "possible military dimensions" to Tehran's atomic program was a condition for the July deal to go forward. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said during a meeting with the French delegation that the visa restrictions were "primarily against the independence of Europe". "Europeans must show their independence in the face of discriminatory measures," he said, quoted by the IRNA official news agency. Larcher, on the first visit to Iran by a French Senate president since the 1979 Islamic revolution, on Sunday met President Hassan Rouhani who is expected to visit France in late January.- Agencies