NASA said that a US law aimed at curbing the military ambitions of Iran bars the U.S. from financing Russia's struggling space program even though it now serves as the sole link to the International Space Station.
"High level negotiations and talks are going on" between Moscow and Washington on ways of using Russia's limited stock of space rockets to keep the ISS alive, the US space agency's Russia representative James Newman said, ACCORDING TO AFP.
Space officials in Moscow said last week that Russia needed to find some US$50 million to keep the ISS operational this year.
But Newman told reporters that this money could not come from Washington and that the United States was now eyeing partnerships with Europe and Japan because of Russia's military cooperation with Iran.
The Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA) signed by former US president Bill Clinton in March 2000 "limits financing and this agreement stands," said Newman.
The INA law prohibits NASA from making payments "in cash or in kind" to Russia for the ISS until Moscow takes "necessary steps" to prevent the transfer of weapons of mass destruction and missile systems to Iran.
Russia is constructing a nuclear power plant in Iran and selling other military hardware to a country viewed by Washington as a "rogue state". (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
