Iran has signed a $25 billion agreement with Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom to build four nuclear power plants in Iran, IRNA news agency said on Friday.

Rosatom previously said it had signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday on the construction of small nuclear power plants in Iran but gave no number.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said the agreement for the construction of the Generation III plants on a site of 500 hectares in the Sirik region of the southeastern province of Hormozgan would generate 5,000 megawatts of electricity. The MOU was signed in Moscow.

Iran, which has suffered electricity shortages at times of high demand, currently only has one operating nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. That was also built by Russia and has a capacity of around 1 GW.

Russia has close relations with Iran and it condemned U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June. Israel said, without providing evidence, that Iran was on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such intention.