Iran said it could negotiate a solution to its dispute with Russia about building its first nuclear power plant, and Moscow promised to keep the project alive despite scarce financing, the Reuters news agency reports.

Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham also said the Foreign Ministry was seeking a US visa for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address the UN Security Council on Tehran’s nuclear plans but that the trip had not been finalized.

Iran is embroiled in a row over its nuclear program, which the West says conceals a plan to produce nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. The world’s fourth largest oil exporter insists it wants only to generate electricity.

Russia’s work on the nuclear plant at Bushehr on the Gulf has caused friction with the US. The Russian firm building the plant said on Monday the September launch date would be missed because of payment delays, which Iran denies.

“We are not pessimistic and we believe with negotiations this issue can be solved. It is better that this project carries on within the framework of the contract,” Elham told a weekly news conference.

The Russian firm, Atomstroiexport, also said nuclear fuel would not be delivered as planned this month because of the row.

Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Russia’s failure to send the fuel on time showed there were no “proper guarantees” for supplies.

Tehran has said it needs to make its own fuel, despite Western opposition, to ensure supplies.
An Iranian nuclear official complained about repeated Bushehr project delays and reaffirmed Iran’s position that payments were up to date.

“Construction works at Bushehr are not being interrupted,” said Sergei Novikov, spokesman for Russia’s state atomic agency Rosatom. “But it’s another issue that construction has been substantially slowed down by a lack of funds.”

Russia has defied Western concerns by supplying arms to Iran, helping build the Bushehr plant and watering down sanctions against Tehran at the UN, but is now signaling its patience with Iran’s leadership is wearing thin.

The five permanent Security Council members — the US, France, Britain, China and Russia — plus Germany are discussing new sanctions on Iran for missing a February 21 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, the process that can make atomic fuel or material for warheads.

Washington insists it wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action if that fails.

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