Russia tells Iran to heed IAEA for atomic fuel-dips

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia has told Iran it will withhold fuel for a planned Russian-built nuclear plant until Tehran answers longstanding U.N. questions about its disputed atomic program, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, Moscow said it had delayed the start-up of Iran's first nuclear power station to 2008 because Tehran was in arrears on payments for the Bushehr plant.

A senior diplomat familiar with inspections by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog in Iran and with Iranian-Russian contacts on Bushehr, said Moscow delivered the warning to Tehran around two weeks ago.

He said this was part of an unofficial deal under which Western powers quietly shelved moves for harsher U.N. sanctions against Iran until next month, pending the outcome of IAEA-Iranian talks on clearing up outstanding issues.

Russian foreign ministry officials were unavailable for comment, while a spokesman for Russia's atomic energy agency declined comment.

The timing of the Bushehr plant's start-up is viewed by Israel and Washington as a key element in a nuclear drive they suspect is a front for developing nuclear weapons.

Iran says it wants only nuclear-generated electricity, but it has concealed enrichment in the past and has stonewalled IAEA inquiries into indications of a military side to its program.

The U.N. Security Council has twice enacted modest sanctions against Iran over its failure to cooperate.

This week, a senior IAEA delegation is in Tehran to nudge the Iranians towards fulfilling a pledge to ease restrictions on inspector access to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, part of a broader process to obtain full Iranian nuclear transparency.

The deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Tuesday that Tehran expects its willingness to give the IAEA more access to help it avoid further sanctions.

PAYMENTS, POLITICS AT ISSUE

Russia has repeatedly delayed the plant and has put off a previous September 2007 start date until autumn, 2008.

Tehran has denied being behind in payments. Russia, seen as Iran's closest big-power ally and a key force blocking U.S.-led efforts for harsher sanctions, says the delay is not political.

But diplomats said Moscow appeared to be using Bushehr in a wider chess match between six world powers -- including the United States, China, Germany, France and Britain -- and Iran over its nuclear aspirations.

"Russia has told Iran they must cooperate with the agency, to clear the deck on the outstanding issues," said another senior Vienna-based diplomat who earlier served in Moscow.