Russia on Monday said it would not start a nuclear reactor at Iran's Bushehr atomic power station by the end of the year as planned, citing technical reasons.
"The launch will not happen by the end of the year," Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told reporters. Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko said in February that the launch was scheduled for 2009.
The Bushehr plant has been delayed frequently. Russia last year completed delivery of nuclear fuel to the station under a contract estimated to be worth about $1 billion.
In case we fail, the other options remain on the table, in order to move the process in a different direction
Russia, which has the strongest ties with Tehran of any big power, has traditionally been unwilling to punish Iran with tough measures. But Medvedev said that Tehran risked sanctions if the crisis continued.
He said Moscow was "not completely happy about the pace" of efforts to resolve the crisis.
"In case we fail, the other options remain on the table, in order to move the process in a different direction," he said in a reference to new U.N. sanctions against Tehran.
Russia, like the United States, is a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council permanent member, and its support is crucial if U.S. warnings of tough sanctions against Tehran are to carry weight.
President Barack Obama on Sunday won the strongest backing yet from Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Iran, with the U.S. leader expressing frustration that Tehran had yet to answer an offer to enrich uranium outside of Iran.
"Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran has been unable to say yes" to the proposal, Obama said after talks with Medvedev in Singapore. "We now are running out of time with respect to that approach."
Obama described as "fair" the proposal offered to Iran, which would see states -- including Russia -- help Tehran to further enrich Iranian uranium for delivery to a research reactor.
Tehran says it prefers to buy reactor fuel from foreign suppliers rather than part with its low enriched uranium that can be used for bombs if enriched further.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Saturday that Ankara was in talks with the IAEA to enrich Iran's uranium and that his country saw no objection to doing so.
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