MOSCOW, Feb 12: Russia said on Thursday it planned to sign a deal with Iran next month to ship nuclear fuel for Iran's power plant, defying Washington's pressure to sever nuclear ties with Tehran.

Tehran and Moscow have been locked in months of tough talks over nuclear shipments for the 800 million dollars Bushehr plant Russia has helped to build despite repeated US accusations that Iran is secretly trying to acquire nuclear arms.

"I think in about two weeks all outstanding issues will be settled, that is, by the end of February," Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev told reporters. He said he hoped to sign the final document, which also requires Iran to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia, during a visit to Tehran in late March.

"The United States has criticized us and will continue to criticise us," Mr Rumyantsev said. "They say Iran seeks nuclear weapons under the cover of our peaceful technology transfer."

"But we keep telling them they've got that wrong. We think we abide by all international laws." Washington wants Moscow to withhold fuel for the reactor as long as Tehran's nuclear ambitions remain a matter of concern.

Russia's vast arsenal of nuclear technology, accumulated during the Cold War, is also of concern to both Washington and the UN nuclear watchdog as it remains open to theft and, theoretically, black market trade.

There has been speculation that individual nuclear scientists, underpaid since the fall of Soviet rule, may be secretly transferring sensitive technology to what Washington calls "rogue" states for cash. Russia has staunchly denied this.

"We haven't supplied anything to (third parties) but we know what countries have and how they have done this," Mr Rumyantsev said. "We've offered to share this information with the United States. They say they want to investigate things themselves."

Mr Rumyantsev was due to visit Iran next week for talks on Bushehr but put off the trip earlier in the day because of what he called remaining disagreement over commercial terms of the deal.

Russia's state-owned nuclear fuel producer, TVEL, has for months kept the Bushehr fuel at a storage facility near Novosibirsk, awaiting Mr Rumyantsev's order to begin shipments.

The first generating unit of the 1,000-megawatt plant is due to be put into full operation in 2006. Nuclear fuel will be shipped as soon as the two sides sign the deal. Spent fuel will be sent back to Siberian storage units after a decade of use.

"Concerns that Iran could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty during that decade are groundless," Mr Rumyantsev said. "Even if they do, imagine the consequences: sanctions, the UN Security Council converging the same day, dispatch of troops and all that," he added. -Reuters