Russia will halt the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Iran's Gulf coast if Tehran expels inspectors from the United Nation's atomic energy watchdog, a Russian source said today.
"I think the reason Iran has not expelled the inspectors yet is that they do not want us to stop our work," the source added.
Iranian officials have often threatened to "review" co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
Iran's parliament is studying a bill that would oblige the government to halt all IAEA inspections if the UN Security Council "decides to deprive the Iranian nation of its legal rights" to a civilian atomic power programme.
Iran stopped allowing snap IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities earlier this year when its case was sent to the Security Council.
But routine IAEA inspections are still going ahead in Iran. Western countries suspect Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, says its enrichment of uranium is a legal and peaceful programme to meet civilian energy needs.
Russia has a lucrative contract signed in 1992 with Tehran to build the Bushehr plant. The reactor at the atomic power plant at Bushehr is scheduled to start up in September 2007.