A nuclear power plant that Russia is building in Iran won't start operations by the end of 2009 as previously announced, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko was quoted as saying by news agencies Monday.
"We expect serious results by the end of the year, but the launch itself will not take place," Shmatko said, quoted by Interfax and RIA-Novosti.
In July the chief of Russian state nuclear company Rosatom had said the power plant, located in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr, would go into service by the end of 2009.
Russia has pressed ahead with the Bushehr project despite Western concerns about Iran's nuclear energy program, which the U.S. and its allies fear is aimed at acquiring an atomic bomb.