Russian and Iranian presidents to discuss nuclear program

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran on August 12 to discuss the nuclear program with its new President Hassan Rouhani. The final word for the nuclear program still belongs to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A compromise would need guarantees of the West to lift sanctions, Kommersant reports.

Putin will discuss construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Rosatom wants to continue work in Iran, despite contracts the Islamic Republic signed with the Czech Republic and Finland. Russia doubts that Iran will afford new projects.

The Russian leader will also discuss shipments of Antey-2500 complexes instead of S-300 systems. He will try to convince Iran to call off the lawsuit worth $4 billion against Rosoboronexport for failing to fulfill the S-300 contract.

Putin visited Iran in October 2007 to attend the Caspian Summit and met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Putin was the first Russian leader to visit Iran since 1943 and may become the first president to meet Hassan Rouhani after the inauguration on August 4.