Iran and Russia have signed a deal to jointly build eight nuclear power plants on Iranian soil.
The announcement came Sunday, November 2, from Vice President Mohammad Eslami, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), according to the Tasnim news agency.
Four of the plants will be in the southern province of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, with four more elsewhere in the country, the official said.
Eslami noted that construction recently began on a new plant in Golestan province on the Caspian Sea.
Once the new facilities come online, Iran’s total nuclear power capacity is expected to reach 20,000 MW, Eslami said.
By comparison, Rosstat puts Russia’s current total nuclear capacity at 28,639 MW.
On September 26, the AEOI said Tehran and Moscow had agreed to build four third-generation reactor units, each with a capacity of about 1,255 MW.
Moscow has also not confirmed plans for eight additional plants in Iran, though Eslami has mentioned the figure before.
Also on November 2, Tehran said Iran will rebuild nuclear sites damaged by Israeli and U.S. strikes in June 2025.
President Masoud Pezeshkian made the pledge, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.
Pezeshkian said the government would “comprehensively and decisively” support the peaceful development of the nuclear industry, vowing the country’s facilities would be “rebuilt with even greater strength and determination.”
He cited radiopharmaceuticals and the use of nuclear technologies in agriculture and environmental protection as examples of peaceful applications.
Pezeshkian stressed that “building nuclear weapons is not part of our plans,” adding that “hostile propaganda deliberately associates the word ‘nuclear’ with making atomic bombs.”
“Unfortunately, we have been negligent in presenting these achievements and countering hostile propaganda. We need an effective mechanism to promote and market these products internationally,” he said.
Government spokesperson Fateme Mojirani said November 2 that Tehran has received a proposal to resume negotiations over its nuclear program.
She did not specify from whom or what the proposal entailed, promising details later, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.
