Russia to start Iran nuclear plant by year end

Russia plans to start up a nuclear reactor at Iran's Bushehr plant by the end of the year, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation said on Thursday as Iran’s president asked world powers to be "polite" in dealing with Tehran.

"If there are no unforeseen events...then the launch will go according to the timetable," Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko told reporters in the Kremlin.

The West, which suspects Iran of seeking to produce its own nuclear bomb, has been critical of Russia's involvement in Bushehr. Russia says the plant is purely civilian and cannot be used for any weapons program.

Analysts say Iran could become a key issue in relations between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and new U.S. President Barack Obama, who said last month that the United States was prepared to talk to Tehran.

A Rosatom spokesman said Kiriyenko was talking about the so- called "technical" start-up, which will be the first time the reactor is fully switched on and aims to test its systems before electricity is supplied to the grid.

The start up the Bushehr plant's nuclear reactor has been delayed frequently, though Russia last year completed delivery of nuclear fuel to the station under a total contract estimated to be worth about $1 billion.

Used as a lever

Analysts say Russia has used Bushehr as a lever in relations with Tehran, which is suspected by the United States and some European countries of seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Russia started deliveries of nuclear fuel for the plant in late 2007, a step both Washington and Moscow said removed any need for Iran to have its own uranium enrichment program.

European diplomats say Russia's leverage with Tehran has played a constructive role in talks on Iran and cite joint work on Iran as an example of good cooperation between powers.

Russia agreed to build the plant in 1995 on the site of an earlier project begun in the 1970s by German firm Siemens. The Siemens' project was disrupted by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Work on readying the reactor for startup has been complicated by having to integrate German infrastructure that was as much as 25 years old, Kiriyenko said.

Russia says the plant poses no proliferation risk as Iran will return all spent fuel rods to Russia.

Ahmadinejad asks world powers to be 'polite'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked world powers on Thursday to be "polite" in dealing with Tehran, a day after diplomats from six countries met to discuss the nuclear standoff.

"Bullying powers should learn how to speak correctly and be polite so Iran's cultured and peace-loving people listen to them," Ahmadinejad said in the northeastern shrine city of Mashhad.

He did not single out any country but Iran has been at odds with the West over its nuclear program which Washington and its allies suspect is cover for a weapons drive, something Tehran strongly denies.

"Iranians are logical people and if you have logical talk to offer, then provide it and say it. We listen to and welcome anyone who offers a solution to the problems of the world," the Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"The era of bullying is over," he said, adding it ended with Iran's Islamic revolution of 1979.

Iran set alarm bells ringing in the West on Monday with its launch of a domestically manufactured satellite. The West fears Tehran could use the same technology to carry nuclear warheads.

Tehran insists the satellite is for peaceful purposes only.

Ahmadinejad's remarks come a day after political directors from the U.N. Security Council's veto-wielding permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany met in Wiesbaden to discuss Iran's nuclear program.

The six powers, which were meeting for the first time since U.S. President Barack Obama took office, expressed a shared commitment to a "diplomatic solution" to the standoff and urged Iran to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iranians are logical people and if you have logical talk to offer, then provide it and say it. We listen to and welcome anyone who offers a solution to the problems of the world

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad