Russia To Complete Iran Nuclear Plant ..

He stressed during a meeting with Iran’s deputy atomic energy minister Asadollah Saburi: "We will continue to fulfill our commitments despite the fact that our views in this respect do not correspond with those of Washington."

Rumyantsev added that Iran’s atomic energy minister Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh would visit Moscow in June.

His comments came less than a week before a key summit in Saint Petersburg between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

American officials said Russia’s cooperation with Iran – to which Washington strongly objects – will top the agenda of the summit, slated for June 1.

In February, the United States renewed accusations that Iran was using its Bushehr light-water reactor to secretly advance a nuclear weapons program and called once again on Russia to stop cooperating on the project.

On Friday, December 13, Tehran flatly denied the American claims it has a nuclear weapons program, reaffirming its right to use nuclear technology for civil and "peaceful" means.

Iran revealed the same month it was building an array of facilities to exploit uranium deposits which would make it self-sufficient in nuclear fuel.

"Iran’s objectives are very clear and peaceful," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said.

And even while going ahead with the Bushehr project, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Tuesday he had expressed concerns about Iran’s military program during talks with its ambassador Gholamreza Shafei.

"There was special attention paid to the present subject of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement following Mamedov’s meeting with Shafei.

The statement, said Mamedov "expressed concern about the existence of some serious questions that have not been cleared up by Iran concerning its nuclear program."

He added that Moscow was keenly awaiting a report on Iran’s nuclear activities that is due to be published by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in mid-June.

Russia still insists on that its nuclear aid to Iran is for purely civilian purposes, but admitted last month that it was concerned that Tehran may be enriching uranium with a view to developing nuclear weapons.

Rumyantsev conceded that "there has been a correction in the construction schedule," but did not specify when the first Bushehr bloc may go on line.

Iran has come under heated American pressures for allegedly harboring members of Al-Qaeda, blamed by the United States for the 9-11 attacks.

Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told NBC television’s Today program on Monday, May 26, that: "We have to eliminate the safe havens where the terrorists are and Iran of course has some of the al-Qaeda members.

"The reports are that al-Qaeda has been in Iran off and on for some time, particularly after our actions in Afghanistan," Myers claimed.

But Tehran immediately hit out at the accusation and asserted it was not holding any "important leaders" of the network.

"Al-Qaeda members have been arrested in Iran, but the persons imprisoned are not important leaders of al-Qaeda," Asefi said.

U.S. President George W. Bush has labeled Iran along with Iraq and North Korea as the "axis of evil".