MOSCOW. June 5 (Interfax-AVN) - Iran is ready to sign an additional protocol to the intergovernmental agreement on the return of used nuclear fuel to Russia, Iranian Ambassador in Moscow Gholam Reza Shafei told Interfax at a Thursday briefing.
"Iran is ready to sign this protocol right now. We are only waiting for Russia to tackle the environmental problems related to the document," the ambassador remarked.
The protocol's text "has been coordinated, and ministers are due to sign it," he said.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said at a briefing in Moscow earlier in the day that Russia would not supply nuclear fuel to Iran until an agreement on used fuel had been signed.
"Nuclear fuel supplies to Iran will start when the protocol is signed. Russia will not make the deliveries without this," he said.
Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev made a similar statement the day before. "Russia will supply fuel for the future nuclear power plant in Bushehr only after a protocol to the intergovernmental agreement on the return of used nuclear fuel from Iran is signed," he stressed.
Interfax asked Reza Shafei to comment on statements made by Washington officials that Iran is developing uranium deposits and has facilities for producing nuclear fuel on its territory. "True, Iran has uranium deposits. The question of uranium enrichment is not new. It was being discussed in Iran 20 years ago," the ambassador said.
The mentioned facilities, "which have not produced anything thus far, function under the control of the IAEA," the ambassador noted.
"It is the right of every country to build such facilities if this is done in compliance with international agreements," he said.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is signatory, "gives all member countries the right to use atomic technology for peaceful purposes, including the supply of fuel for atomic facilities from national territory," Reza Shafei said.
"Those who ignore this right are violating the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty," the ambassador stressed.