The visit came ahead of a crucial September 19 meeting of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that may ask the UN Security Council to penalize Iran for refusing to stop nuclear fuel work.

Following talks between Aghazadeh and the head of the Russian federal nuclear agency, Alexander Rumyantsev, a spokesman for the agency confirmed plans to push ahead with development of the Bushehr nuclear power plant that Russia is building in Iran.

"Moscow and Tehran have confirmed their intention to launch operation of the Bushehr nuclear power station by the end of 2006," a spokesman for the Russian federal nuclear agency said.

Aghazadeh was later due to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Igor Ivanov, head of Russia's security council.

Construction of the plant at Bushehr has sparked controversy as the United States and other Western countries accuse Iran of seeking to secretly build nuclear weapons.

But ahead of the talks in Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman reaffirmed that Russia would not support a possible decision by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to bring Iran before the Security Council.

"Moscow doesn't see grounds for referring the question of Iran to the UN Security Council," ITAR-TASS quoted a foreign ministry official as saying ahead of the visit.

Russian media on Monday saw the visit by Aghazadeh as a rebuff by Russia to Western efforts, including those by Germany, Britain and France, at taking a harder line on Iran.

"The visit of Mr. Aghazadeh to Moscow is largely of a propagandist nature, aimed at showing the whole world that Russia will not follow the 'Eurotroika' in condemning Tehran's nuclear programme, but is in solidarity with the ayatollahs' regime," the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper said.

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