By DPA
Tehran : Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Russian nuclear fuel for a joint nuclear-power plant in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr was ready and sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Mottaki did not say when the fuel would be delivered to Bushehr by Russian firm Atomstroiexport, while the US has repeatedly called on Russia not to deliver nuclear material to Iran.
Mottaki was quoted as saying by state media Saturday that during his Wednesday visit to Moscow, the Bushehr plant was discussed between the two sides, and Tehran was hopeful that it would soon be completed.
Mottaki met in Moscow with Atomstroiexport head Sergey Shmatko, and both agreed to continue their talks in mid October.
Atomstroiexport has called the completion of the reactor into question due to financing problems, which Iran claims have been resolved.
Experts are expecting completion of the project, which is claimed by the Russian side to be up to 95 percent ready, to be postponed until autumn 2008.
The Iranian-Russian joint project was originally meant to be completed at the beginning of the decade but has been delayed at least five times for various reasons.
The most recent agreement between the two sides, signed in September 2006 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.