US Department of State: Dispute between Russia and Iran over Bushehr NPP is commercial

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The dispute between the Russian and Iranian governments over construction of Bushehr NPP is commercial, Tom Casey, US Department of State Deputy Spokesman said at a briefing yesterday, the State Department official web-site informs.

As REGNUM reported earlier, on March 12 the Russian side announced that the schedule of inaugurating the NPP will be postponed, as Iran has not paid money within two months to the Russian general contractor on the project, AtomStroyExport.

According to Tom Casey, “that is a commercial arrangement and a commercial dispute between the Iranian and Russian government.” “I'd leave it to them to tell you if there's any other considerations at work there,” said Casey.

At the same time, the US State Department said that “the international community is unhappy with the Iranians because of their failure to respond to repeated calls and repeated requirements for them to suspend their uranium enrichment activities.”