TEHRAN - It seems that Russia is not going to meet its commitment to inaugurate the Bushehr nuclear power plant in September 2007 due to political considerations, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Mehdi Safari said here on Tuesday.

Moscow announced about four months ago that the launch of the nuclear power plant would be delayed due to problems in obtaining the necessary equipment from third countries and delays in receiving payments from Tehran, he explained. However, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has rejected the claims that there have been delays in payments to Russia. Although Moscow has cited technical problems, Tehran believes the project is becoming politicized, Safari said. Russia and Iran had earlier signed an agreement setting September 2007 as the deadline for the launch of the station. Safari stated that Iran has told Russia that the project plays a key role in Tehran-Moscow relations. “I have held talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak on this,” he added. ---------- Tehran to host IPI pipeline talks Commenting on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, Safavi said the three countries are expected to hold talks in Tehran next month in order to harmonize the text of the IPI pipeline agreement. The trio held the sixth round of talks on the IPI pipeline, which has been dubbed the peace pipeline, in New Delhi on June 26. Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, the Iranian petroleum minister’s special envoy to the IPI talks, was the head of the Iranian delegation. The 2,775km pipeline is to deliver natural gas from Iran to India through Pakistan. The project is expected to take three to five years to complete and cost approximately 7 billion dollars. On the disagreements over the contract, Safari said that Tehran wants the gas price to be reviewed every three years, while India believes the process should take place once every seven years. He also noted that Pakistan and India have yet to discuss the transit fee New Delhi is to pay Islamabad for the delivery of the gas