TEHRAN, April 6. /TASS/. Progress on the construction of the second stage of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Iran was minimal over the past two years due to financial difficulties, Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday.

"Russia has constructed Bushehr-1 in accordance with the contract, and in accordance with the contract, the second and the third units are being built. However, the progress in this area was minimal over the past two years due to financial difficulties," he was quoted as saying by the ISNA agency.

"The Iranian nuclear industry is owned solely by Iran and no foreign power has a stake in it," the official noted.

On June 26, 2021, Ali Akbar Salehi, who headed the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran at the time, estimated Tehran’s debt to Moscow for construction work of the Bushehr NPP at around 500 mln euro. On June 28, 2021, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali noted that Iran was doing everything possible to repay its debt to Moscow, adding that the republic would repay the debt shortly.

Russia’s Rosatom is engaged in the construction of the second stage of the Bushehr NPP in Iran (the second and third energy units) with a total capacity of 2,100 MW. On November 10, 2019, the works on concrete placement kicked off as part of the construction of the second energy unit.