What is behind Russia’s delay of Iran’s nuclear reactor?

[nodular]

by Peter Symonds

Global Research, February 22, 2007
WSWS




http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=SYM20070222&articleId=4889


Actually, there seem to be conflicting reports on this one. Another version (in addition to the one below, based on a charge of Iranian non-payment) is that the Russians have delayed due to Iran's failure ot answer the questions of the International Atomic Agency.

Whatever the real explanation, the reactor, due to be completed in September 2007, definately seems to be on hold. Further complicating the picture is the possibility of some convoluted problem (explained in the referenced article but not quoted here) relating to Iranian payment in euros instead of dollars (Iran has sworn off any involvement with the dollar in response to US pressure on banks aroudn the world not to deal with them.)

One would think this may have an impact on a possible US attack on Iran, which hopefully can be avoided.


"Russian officials suddenly announced on Monday that work on Iran’s nuclear power reactor at the southern port of Bushehr would be slowed due to Tehran’s failure to make scheduled payments on the construction contract. Far from being an ordinary commercial dispute, the delay is another pointer to the extreme tensions produced by the Bush administration’s military threats against Iran.

"The Russian announcement came just two days before a UN Security Council deadline for Iran to shut down its uranium enrichment facilities. Tehran, which insists that all its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes, has refused to comply. The Bushehr reactor, which is being completed by Russian firms, is designed to produce electricity and is not included in the UN resolution.

"According to Sergei Novikov, spokesman for Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom, Iran is behind in its financial commitments. “In February no payments were made. In January we received just $5.1 million of the $25 million due,” he said. Underfinancing, Novikov explained, would influence the agreed timetable, including the delivery of nuclear fuel and the launch of the reactor...

"...The announcement provoked an angry Iranian response. Muhammad Saeedi, deputy director of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, denied the country had been late in making payments. He insisted that the financial problems lay with the Russian contractor, not on the Iranian side. On Wednesday, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, urged Russia to complete the reactor on time and warned that a delay 'will have adverse affects on the minds of the Iranian people'."