The launch of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, delayed for technical reasons, will take place by the end of March 2010, the country's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran is counting on the Russian contractor in the Bushehr project, Atomstroyexport, to honor its obligations and launch the plant on time.

Russian and Iranian officials confirmed on Friday that work to finish the facility was progressing on schedule.

Russia has repeatedly delayed the launch of the $1 billion plant in Iran's south, over financial and technical issues. Iran is at the center of an international dispute over its nuclear ambitions, amid Western suspicions that the program has military goals, and is subject to UN sanctions.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said last week that Russia was close to finishing the construction of the Bushehr plant, and was making final adjustments.

The construction of the plant was started in 1975 by German companies. However, the firms stopped work after a U.S. embargo was imposed on high-technology supplies to Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. embassy siege in Tehran.

Russia signed a contract with Iran in February 1998 to complete the plant.