Launch of Iranian nuclear plant delayed due to missed payments
Russian firm building Bushehr plant says nuclear fuel delivery frozen, reactor won't open in September as planned.
By ReutersIran's Bushehr nuclear power station will not be launched in September and nuclear fuel will not be delivered to the station this month as earlier planned, the Russian contractor said Monday, blaming the hold-up on unpaid bills.
"The lack of financing from the Iranian side means that Atomstroiexport did not receive payments for two months," Irina Yesipova, a spokeswoman for Russian state-owned contractor said by telephone.
"This means the timeframe has been moved and so the launch cannot happen in September - we simply cannot do it. If we can't launch the station in September then we cannot deliver the fuel according to the old timetable either."
Moscow and Tehran have been bickering publicly over what Russia says are tens of millions of dollars in delayed payments for its work on Bushehr, Iran's first nuclear power station.
Iran denies it has missed payments on the plant, a sensitive project as Tehran has come under pressure from the United States and the European Union over its nuclear ambitions.
Report: 'Informed' Russian source blasts IranMeanwhile, Russian news agencies quoted "an informed source" in Moscow as saying that Iran is abusing Russia's stance on its nuclear program.
"Unfortunately, the Iranians are abusing our constructive relations," the agencies quoted the source as saying.
The source added Iran "cannot play forever" on its good relations with Russia.
"It is unacceptable for us to have an Iran with a nuclear bomb or the potential to create one," the source said.
The comments were reported by Russia's three main news agencies. Senior government officials often brief the agencies anonymously to send messages to foreign governments.
The United States is pushing for tougher sanctions on Iran because it believes Tehran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, an allegation Iran has denied.
Russia has tried to soften the sanctions, arguing engagement with Iran is more productive than confrontation.
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov in Tehran in January. (AP) |
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"Earmarking" isn't the same as paying. Iranian talk is cheap. Tachat al hashilchun is what they have to produce.
Russia expects payment in $US, or Euros and Iran has a shortage because it sends Hizbala $US and Euros and must pay for imports in $US or Euros while its leaders are stealing $US and Euros!even creative accounting cant solve that problem.
...you are blowing hot and cold as to whether you will use our help to irradiate another state? el problemo. ah, but you can't pay us.... fuggedaboutit.
Russia knows which way the wind is blowing. This is a pretext that allows them to get down from the tree gracefully. They are also hamstrung as signatories to the NPT. As the IAEA clamps down on Iran, Russia must stop delivering technology. Russia can stand back now as the situation goes "critical" so to speak. All those bloggers who sang the chorus of "Iran is going to get the bomb, get used to it" are invited to gracefully stand down with Russia and admit your error. But you never will. You'll just go quiet on the issue and find something else to flame. Who needs you.
US taxpayers would pay but Egyptians would blow themselves up - by mistake of course - before the check cleared. Do you really believe the US payed for Israel's nuclear program in the 1950s? Despite the main technical pipeline being French, that program was keep a secret from DeGaulle himself.
Anybody who thinks that the Russians are going to give the Iranians , who live in their backyard, any nukes does not understand foreign policy of any country. I AM NOT WORRIED ABOUT NUKES IN IRAN, besides Iran is being banckrupted by a mini-arms race, a la Russia......they have to import petrol, they are rationing, they had to replenish arms to Hezbollah, give money to the Shia in Lebanon, and arms to Baby Assad.............oy vei, I smell a rat and its called "SPending your petro dollars stupidly"
All the checks are paid in advance by the US taxpayer.
achMADinjad forgot to tell his bookkeeper to send out the check.
achMADinjad ought to harness his hot air to fuel the reactors. Hopefully Iran will stop paying their government workers and it will lead to mass dissent, as in Gaza.
As the Iranian people suffer under AhMADinejad while their standard of living is not great. Ahmadinejad looks to build a Nuclear Reactor. While sitting on a oil supply that is not going dry tomorrow. Instead of building refinerys so the Iranian people has access to low priced fuel. This man is trying to build a reactor to make nuclear weapons. Finally Russia is waking up or it's continuing under the table.Russia wanted to go forward with the west yet Russia continues to go against the USA, EU and Japan as far as this voting for sanctions go. Russia needs to wake up and stop sending weapons to Iran and others and look to the future for peace between nations. If It doesn't do that then the cold war never ended. It just changed it's look. If thats the case then the USA needs to take a different stance to Russia.
As the Iranian people suffer under AhMADinejad while their standard of living is not great. Ahmadinejad looks to build a Nuclear Reactor. While sitting on a oil supply that is not going dry tomorrow. Instead of building refinerys so the Iranian people has access to low priced fuel. This man is trying to build a reactor to make nuclear weapons. Finally Russia is waking up or it's continuing under the table.Russia wanted to go forward with the west yet Russia continues to go against the USA, EU and Japan as far as this voting for sanctions go. Russia needs to wake up and stop sending weapons to Iran and others and look to the future for peace between nations. If It doesn't do that then the cold war never ended. It just changed it's look. If thats the case then the USA needs to take a different stance to Russia.
The minor annoyance of an unpaid bill will not stop the Russian bear, embodied now in Putin and Lavrov, from their obvious engagement in the fomenting of Cold War II. The United States and Great Britain were not fooled in the 1940s by the birth of the first cold war and while they couched their own policies in an "anti-communist" vein they defeated the Russians' plans. It will be more difficult this time: The Russian alliance with Iran and Syria features a (winking) blind eye to new weaponry going to Hizb Allah and Hamas (the Russians will "sell" this stuff to Belarus so they are not implicated in direct sales to those who wish to destroy Israel). If the new Russian fighter planes are sold to Syria, that will confirm the Cold War is back on. The real change this time is that both the CIA and the State Department are not proactive. They are not even yet reactive and have had so much of their ability stripped from them by awful infighting that one wonders about the eventual outcome.
Look do they need the goods or not? I mean they dont want them we can sell them to another country for cash. What is it with these Iranians.The price of oil goes through the roof and they cant pay a bill.Have they not heard of Interac???? Wha,do you mean they want us to fund their nuclear program?????? I'd think about growing more eggplant.
things could get much better in the middle east - not sure why america is only one that gets beat up over their role - there are many other countries also using the middle east and its resources as a "game" to be played for their benefit and no one elses - I do feel slightly bad for middle easterners since they are being used by the whole world and only israel and americ pays a price for playing the "game"
....Nevertheless, optimism should be a careful one.
Probably not... It is more likely they are finalizing missile shipments to Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas, and needed a little more time to cock their guns. Putin and Ahmadinejad are cold and unpredictable allies. Hitler and Mussolini had a similar relationship pre-WWII.