Russia may spur Tehran's atomic fuel work: Iran

USHEHR, Iran (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday that if Russia does not deliver atomic fuel for the Islamic Republic's first power station the move would justify Tehran's disputed work to make its own nuclear fuel.

Russia is building the atomic plant in Iran's southwestern port city of Bushehr but did not deliver fuel as planned in March because of what it says was delayed payments by Iran. Tehran has said it is up to date with its commitments.

Iran's own enrichment program to make fuel for power plants is at the centre of a row with the West which believes Tehran secretly wants to enrich uranium to levels which could be used to make material for atomic bombs. Tehran denies this.

"If the Russians do not want to deliver the fuel to us it will prove the issue that we should seriously follow enrichment ourselves," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told He said "financial obstacles have been solved" in the dispute with Russia. Russian officials said last month that Iran had resumed payments to Russia for the power plant construction but said Tehran was still in arrears.

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