A senior Iranian lawmaker said Thursday in Moscow that Iran plans to build 20 atomic power plants in the coming years, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.

"Iran plans to construct 20 atomic power plants in the coming years. It is economical for Iran to produce nuclear fuel needed by these power plants." Kazem Jalali, rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission at the Majlis (Parliament), was quoted as saying.

Jalali, heading the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group on an official visit to Russia, made the remarks at a meeting with head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency Alexander Rumyantsev.

The senior lawmaker also urged Moscow to run Bushehr Power Plant and supply it with necessary fuel according to the timetable.

"As the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced, the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is peaceful," he added.

Iran, accused by the United States of developing nuclear weapons secretly, has been trying its best to forge ahead with its alleged peaceful nuclear program.

Tehran terms the US accusation as politically motivated and insists that as a signatory of the Non Proliferation Treaty, it enjoys the natural rights secured by the treaty.

Russia, in defiance of the US pressure, is aiding Tehran to build its first nuclear power plant in the southern coastal province of Bushehr.

Source: Xinhua