A Tel Aviv based analyst on Middle East issues says that the need for new sources of energy justifies Iran's push for nuclear technology.

"Iran's requirement for nuclear energy is justified... It is very important for Iran to find other sources of energy, especially non oil and non gas," Meir Javedanfar told the Christian Science Monitor.

Faced with a nationwide power shortage problem, the country has scheduled power outages of up to two hours a day throughout the country.

In January 1995, Iran and Russia signed an $800 million contract that committed Moscow to completing one of the two Bushehr nuclear reactors within four years.

Iran has recently announced that its first nuclear power plant, situated in Bushehr will start generating electricity in 2009.

The announcement has been a cause of concern for Tel Aviv which along with its staunch ally, Washington, continues to accuse Iran, an NPT signatory, of trying to obtain nuclear weaponry. In line with that accusation they have even threatened to launch aerial strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The UN nuclear watchdog, which has extensively monitored Iran's nuclear activities since 2003, says Tehran enriches uranium-235 to a level of 3.7 percent, which can only be used for the generation of electricity.

Nuclear arms production requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent.

The Russian company, Atomstroiexport Corporation responsible for constructing the Bushehr plant, states that the contract is in line with all international agreements aimed at preventing nuclear weapons proliferation.

Russia, however, has delayed the construction of the reactor by more than a decade. The country cites 'sanctions imposed by Western powers' as the cause for the delay.

This is while the Nuclear Suppliers Group's decided last Saturday to open the door to the controversial US, India nuclear deal, although New Delhi tested a bomb in 1974, never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nor allowed outside inspection of its nuclear facilities.

Javedanfar said the decision will send out the message that if you make a bomb 'then you will be a nuclear power with the right to buy whatever you want'.

"About the merits of suspension versus the merits of going forward, [those] who want to go forward are going to use this [India] example to back their case," he said.

MJ/SME/DT