President Evo Morales confirmed Saturday that Bolivia plans to build a nuclear plant with Iran's help, stressing the facility would be for peaceful purposes.
"There is nothing to lie about: one of the things we are working on with Iran is of course to have a nuclear plant, to generate energy," Morales said.
"When we talk about a nuclear plant people will claim it is linked to a nuclear bomb, but we are not talking about nuclear bombs."
Morales said Bolivia has reserves of uranium, the raw material it could export to other countries with nuclear plants.
Bolivia has also been improving ties with Iran, which earlier this year sent a legislative committee to La Paz to ratify a 1.2 billion dollar cooperation agreement between the two countries.
The agreement includes funds for development projects, including two cement factories.
Israel suspects that the leftist governments in Bolivia and Venezuela are supplying uranium for Iran's controversial nuclear program, according to an Israeli foreign ministry document leaked to media on May 25.
The United States and its European allies have pressed Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, which they fear are a cover for building an atomic bomb.
Iran has pressed ahead with atomic work, in defiance of UN sanctions, insisting that the program is aimed at producing civilian nuclear energy.
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