MOSCOW -- A Russian nuclear expert said on Friday Iran and Russia are determined to go ahead with their nuclear cooperation based on the international standards and rules.

The expert who declined to be identified said Russia has intensified control over its nuclear exports.

He said Russia is quite confident that the nuclear facilities in Iran would be used only for peaceful purposes adding that Iran's Bushehr nuclear site considers duly the rules of the international energy organizations.

Moscow is determined to continue cooperation with Tehran while viewing its economic interests as well as its obligations as for the non-proliferation principle, he noted.

He added that Russia's nuclear exports to Iran cannot have a destabilizing influence on the situation in the region.

He termed as "strategic" the Iran-Russia cooperation while stressing that Russia is interested in boosting the bilateral ties between the two states in all political, economic and trade spheres.

The expansion of the Tehran-Moscow relations would benefit both sides, he said while expressing pleasure with the current bilateral political links.

Russian cooperation with Iran has long been a sore point with Washington, with the Bushehr Power Plant an especially sensitive Issue, reported IRNA.

Reportedly, a 10-year program for Tehran-Moscow cooperation proposed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov indicates a desire of the Russian government to consolidate relations with the Islamic Republic.

Press reports suggested that Moscow's decision to strengthen relations with Iran, particularly in areas the U.S. opposes, is meant to defy U.S. pressure. A Washington-based daily recently outlined Russian plans to build 5 nuclear power plants for Iran over the next decade.

U.S. President George W. Bush, during a summit earlier with Russian President Putin in the Kremlin, raised what the Americans claim to be Iranian attempts to obtain or develop weapons of mass destruction.