RUSSIA will load fuel into Iran’s first nuclear power plant next week despite US demands to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear energy until the country proves that it’s not pursuing a weapons capacity, officials said yesterday.

Iran will launch its first nuclear power plant next week, Russia’s nuclear agency announced today.

The presidents of Russia and China today called on Iran to fulfil the UN Security Council’s resolutions over its disputed nuclear programme.

Russia is pulling out its experts from the Iranian nuclear reactor site they were helping build, US and European officials said yesterday.

The state-run Russian company building Iran’s first nuclear power plant said the reactor’s launch will be postponed because of Iranian payment delays.