China, Russia put more pressure on Iran

A senior Iranian military official warned the United States against launching any attack on the Islamic Republic, a news agency reported Monday.

“If America starts a war against Iran, it won’t be the one who finishes it,” Morteza Saffari, naval forces commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

“Our people will not even allow one American soldier to enter our country,” Saffari said.

Russia's financial factor
Earlier on Monday, the Russian state-run company building Iran’s first atomic power plant said that Iran had made its first payment toward the delayed construction of the Bushehr plant since a dispute over financing halted the project.

Russia and Iran have been at loggerheads over financing of the plant, and Russia said earlier this month that nuclear fuel would not be supplied this month, as had been planned. The delays prompted Russia to indefinitely postpone the reactor’s launch, set for September.

Iran, meanwhile, angrily denied falling behind in payments and accused Russia of caving in to U.S. pressure to take a tougher line on Iran for defying international demands to halt parts of its nuclear program.

Russian officials denied media speculation that it was putting political pressure on Iran under cover of the financial dispute.

“The fact that our Iranian partners have overcome their difficulties is positive, however, it far from compensates for the requirements of the (project) that have arisen during the period of nonpayment,” Atomstroiexport spokesman Sergei Novikov said in a statement.

The company also said the new payment was just half of the monthly amount needed for a normal construction schedule to be resumed.

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