26 July 2007
The completion of Iran’s first nuclear power plant will be delayed by one year until the fall of 2008, according to the Russian firm responsible for its construction. "Today, we can say for sure that to launch the Bushehr nuclear plant this autumn is unrealistic," Ivan Istomin, the head of Energoprogress, a company doing the work for the Russian state-owned firm building the Iranian plant, told Russia’s ‘RIA Novosti’ news agency. Despite pressure from many countries and the United Nations to halt work on the plant, Russia has said it would stick with the project. Iran claims its nuclear ambitions are to provide for the country’s power needs, but it is widely believed that the Islamic Republic, whose president has threatened to “wipe Israel off the map,” is trying to build nuclear bombs. The Russian company building the plant had previously announced a delay in its completion due to payment problems. The plant was originally supposed to open in September 2007.
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