Iran insists the stakes are high, with a population of more than 65 million.

But given the country's enormous oil and gas reserves, the international community has stepped up the pressure on Tehran to come clean on its nuclear energy programme and fall in line with demands of the UN nuclear watchdog.

Despite Iranian assurances it is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, sceptics ask why Iran should invest billions of dollars to produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity at a far higher cost than with gas-powered plants.

"Before the (1979 Islamic) revolution, we had a population of 30 million and oil revenues in the region of 22 billion dollars a year," said Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Today, our population has doubled but not only do oil revenues fall far short of 44 billion dollars, but we would have needed 90 billion dollars in oil revenues" to keep up with inflation, he said.

"We are currently running our country with 24 billion dollars in revenues (from the oil and non-oil sectors), which is something of a miracle."

Salehi said that 7,000 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity would free up about 200 million barrels of oil a year, or an annual saving of around four billion dollars.

And that is without taking into account the fact that Iran's reserves are not unlimited.

Consumption of oil, diesel and electricity has been rising sharply in Iran, where 80 percent of villages now have electricity and power cuts are a far rarer occurrence.

Iran currently produces 3.6 million barrels of oil a day, a third of which is ploughed into domestic consumption, a share which is climbing, necessitating imports of more than one billion dollars worth of refined petrol.

As a result, officials here say, Iran is accelerating the nuclear programme.

Apart from the 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant being built in Bushehr, southern Iran, with Russian help, the government plans to construct six other reactors each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

While airing national pride for the achievements of its own scientists, Iranian officials say the programme will ensure that Tehran's needs and independence are not subject to foreign pressure.

In March, President Mohammad Khatami revealed Iran had the know-how to produce nuclear fuel and was building atomic installations in Isfahan, Natanz, Arak and Yazd.

To show that Western pressure has been politically motivated, Iranian officials point out that before the Islamic revolution even the United States encouraged Tehran to pursue a nuclear programme for civilian uses.

The aim was to produce 20,000 megawatts of electricity in 2000.

Germany helped launch the work at Bushehr even before the revolution but it was interrupted by the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq, before Russia entered the picture.

The United States, Britain and France were also to have taken part in the construction of several nuclear plants, but the overthrew of the shah put paid to such projects.

WAR.WIRE