MOSCOW, June 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Russia will supply nuclear fuel to Iran even if Tehran does not sign up to a protocol allowing strict United Nations nuclear inspections, a foreign ministry official said Thursday, Thursday, May 5.

“We will supply nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant even if Iran does not sign a protocol on additional guarantees with the IAEA," ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.

The statement is at odds with a statement by British Prime Minister Tony Blair's to House of Commons in which he said Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised to provide no fuel until the protocol was signed.

Putin reportedly argued in the Group of Eight Summit on Tuesday, June 3, that his country would not halt its nuclear cooperation with Iran, but insisted Tehran's nuclear activities must come under international control in a move calculated to calculated to cheer U.S. President George W. Bush and allow the world's most powerful nations to present a united front against the spread of nuclear weapons.

In London, a spokesman for Blair was quoted by Reuters as saying the prime minister stood by what he had told parliament.

Putin made the comments at Evian "during the discussion on weapons of mass destruction and non-proliferation. He said what the prime minister said he said."

Construction of the reactor at Bushehr is to be completed later this year, with the plant due to come on stream next year. Russia has yet to send any fuel to Iran.

Moscow has contested U.S. accusations that oil-rich Iran is using its nuclear sites to develop nuclear weapons. And despite U.S. pressure, Russia is continuing to help build Iran's first nuclear power station at Bushehr.

The foreign ministry spokesman, however, said that Moscow did want to see Iran agree to stricter control by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"As for the additional protocols with the IAEA, Russia has actively worked on the development of these protocols and believes that their signature will significantly help in non-proliferation issues," he said.

Yet the issue remains highly sensitive in Russia and Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev Wednesday also denied suggestions that Moscow would refuse to deliver nuclear fuel to Bushehr unless Tehran gave U.N. monitors full access.

"There is no link," Rumyantsev told reporters.

Iran has been urged to allow the IAEA to inspect suspect sites in the country as a confidence-building measure.

It has been accused by the United States of using an atomic energy program as a cover for illicit development of nuclear weapons, a charge Iran vigorously denies.

The United States is going to use force to eliminate chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and take away these deadly arsenals from rogue states, a senior U.S. government official warned Wednesday, June 4.