UPDATED ON:
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
16:30 Mecca time, 13:30 GMT
 
News Middle East
Iran nuclear plant launch postponed
The Bushehr nuclear plant in the south of Iran [EPA] 

The September launch of Iran's first nuclear power plant is to be postponed, the state-run Russian company building the reactor has said.
 
Russia will also not deliver nuclear fuel as planned this month to Iran's Bushehr power station due to delays in payment, Irina Yesipova, a spokeswoman for Atomstroiexport, said on Monday.
She said: "The lack of financing from the Iranian side means that did not receive payments for two months.
 
"This means the timeframe has been moved and so the launch cannot happen in September, we simply cannot do it.
"If we can't launch the station in September, then we cannot deliver the fuel according to the old timetable either."

Public arguments

Moscow and Tehran have been publicly arguing over what Russia says are tens of millions of dollars in delayed payments for its work on Bushehr.

Three days of talks last week between Atomstroiexport officials and an Iranian delegation led by Mohammed Saeedi, the vice president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, ended without agreement.

Iran denies it has missed payments on the plant.

The United Nations' five Security Council permanent members and Germany in New York are currently considering a draft  resolution to tighten sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear programme.

In December the council agreed a first set of measures penalising Iran for its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activities, its first-ever sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Nuclear programme

Your Views

"It is stubbornness and pride on Iran's part that has led to this impasse, and it can only lead to disaster for Iran"

Diom1982, Cork, Ireland

Send us your views

Tehran has repeatedly refused to suspend enrichment, a process that several countries, principally the US, say could be diverted to make nuclear weapons.
  
Iranian television said on Sunday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country's president, wanted to defend Iran's position in person at a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the country's nuclear programme.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, said on Monday that UN sanctions are having an impact on Iran, and urged that they be "strengthened and extended without delay".

Livni told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) during a visit to Washington on Monday that "the international community must not close its eyes" to the threat posed by Iran.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said the programme is for peaceful purposes only.

 Source: Agencies
 
ARTICLE TOOLS
 Email Article  Email article
 Print Article  Print article
 Send Feedback  Send feedback
 Share article  Share article