Iran does not want big fight with West-Russian MP

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) Iran does not want a serious fight with the West but is looking for a counterbalance to the United States' global dominance, a top Russian parliamentarian said today after a three-day trip to Tehran.

''At meetings in the Iranian capital we did not feel the Iranian political elite is in the mood for serious confrontation with the rest of the world,'' Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the international affairs committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, told ITAR-TASS news agency.

''We have not heard any belligerent statements or sabre-rattling,'' he said.

But Margelov said the Iranian officials had told him: ''The time has come to put an end to the unipolar world.'' The phrase echoes Russia's own campaign against what it perceives as US unilateralism and Moscow's call for more international cooperation to solve global crises.

Iran has vowed to press on with its nuclear enrichment programme, in defiance of a U N order to stop, although it has promised not to develop atomic weapons.

The West suspects Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon, although Iran says it is simply exercising its right to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

Russia is helping Iran build a nuclear power station in Bushehr in the southwest of the country, but said Tehran has missed payments of 70 million dollars and is holding up deliveries of nuclear fuel as a result.

Iran denies missing any payments.

''One should not see any hidden political context in the news about the delay of the construction. Russia is very careful in observing its obligations, including in the commercial field,'' Margelov said.

Russia also supplies conventional weapons and missiles to Iran, straining relations with the United States.

REUTERS PDM HT1825