By DPA
Tehran : Iran and Russia resumed negotiations Sunday over the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, the news network Khabar reported.
A delegation from the Russian contractor Atomstroiexport, which is building the power plant in the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr, started talks in Tehran with officials of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization to overcome differences.
Atomstroiexport had announced earlier this year that there would be a delay in the completion of the plant due to a financial dispute with Tehran. Iran rejected the claims and said all payments had been made on time.
The Iran-Russia joint project was originally supposed to be completed at the beginning of the millennium but has been delayed at least five times for various reasons.
The most recent agreement between the two sides signed last September in Moscow envisioned the supply of nuclear fuel in March 2007, the physical launch of the plant in September and the energy launch in November.
Iran had warned Russia not to link the project with the international dispute over Iran's nuclear programme and in doing so "politicise" the Bushehr plant. Moscow has however said the Bushehr stoppage was a purely financial problem.
Tehran has already warned Russia that it was risking a loss of credibility with contradictory remarks on the completion of the Bushehr plant, and warned that doubts over Moscow's role as reliable partner were increasing.
Some political circles in Iran say that Moscow would eventually blackmail Iran with the Bushehr plant by demanding Iran's acceptance of international demands over uranium enrichment suspension before completing the plant.