A senior Iranian member of parliament was quoted on Tuesday as saying that Russia was using the Islamic Republic as a "pawn" in Moscow's dealings with other powers such as the United States.
Heshmatollah Falahatpishe, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was reacting to talks between the US and Russian presidents and Moscow's announcement of a new delay in building Iran's first nuclear power reactor.
Referring to a meeting in Singapore on Sunday between Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama, the MP said, "Russian officials once more sold Iran to the Americans at a higher price."
He was quoted as saying by the daily Andishe No, "They had previously also colluded against Iran and (an) example is the delay in the commissioning of the Bushehr nuclear power plant which was supposed to be completed by 2009, but ... we see the Russians are reporting another delay."
"Unfortunately, the Russians have always used Iran as a pawn in their dealings with other powers," Falahatpishe added.
Medvedev said on Sunday after meeting Obama that Moscow was not completely happy about the pace of dialogue between Iran and the international community over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Obama said time was running out for diplomacy after Iran failed to give a clear answer on a UN-drafted proposal that it should send low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research eactor.
Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, rejects Western allegations that it is seeking to build an atomic bomb and says its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity.
On Monday, Russia announced the latest delay to Iran's first nuclear power station, saying that technical issues would prevent its engineers from starting up the reactor at the Bushehr plant on the Gulf coast by the year's end.
Diplomats say Russia uses the Bushehr reactor, and major arms contracts, as levers in relations with Tehran.
Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security council, has backed three sets of mild sanctions. But it has so far blocked any strong measures against its traditional ally.
Other Iranian lawmakers also criticised the latest delay in the construction of Bushehr, even though Moscow said politics had nothing to do with the decision.
"The Russians should know if they politicise the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant project, then ... ties between Iran and Russia would face many changes," state radio quoted Hamidreza Katouzian, head of the Energy Committee, as saying.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said, "The hasty remarks by the Russians do not seem normal." His comments were carried in the English-language Tehran Times.
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