Russia on Thursday reiterated its pledge to continue construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran, saying it would be unreasonable for Russia to suspend or cancel nuclear cooperation with Iran.

Russian Atomic Energy Ministry spokesman Nikolai Shingaryov said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was keeping all the work at the Bushehr construction site under strict control.

"Neither Russia nor Iran violates any of the requirements specified by the IAEA," Shingaryov was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.

Russia and Iran signed a contract in 1995 to jointly build an 800-million-dollar nuclear power plant in the coastal city of Bushehr. The first unit of the plant should be completed in 2004 and switched to the Iranian power grid in 2005.

The United States has accused Iran of using the plant for secretly developing nuclear weapons and called on Russia not to make fuel deliveries to Bushehr before getting additional guarantees of fuel return.

According to Shingaryov, Russia and Iran may sign an additional protocol on return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia from the first reactor of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in early September.

Several Russian companies are expected to give the precise dates for deliveries of nuclear fuel to Iran right after the protocol is signed, he noted.