Iran plans to build six more nuclear power plants, the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Organization said Tuesday.

Ahmad Fayazbakhsh told the official news agency IRNA that contracts were signed with six local companies commissioned to find suitable locations for the new plants within the next 13 months.

Companies from Canada, Russia and Switzerland also took part in the tender but only local firms were finally selected, he said.

Iran wants to have six nuclear power plants within the next 13 years but has already started the uranium enrichment process for producing the fuel, raising Western fears that the Islamic republic is pursuing a nuclear weapons' programme.

Uranium enriched to a level up to 5 per cent is used for making nuclear fuel, but if enriched to a higher degree, it can be employed for producing nuclear bombs.

The West alleges Iran's persistence to enrich uranium despite international threats of financial sanctions and political isolation is suspicious because it has operational nuclear power plants.

Iran's only nuclear plant is still under construction at the southern Persian Gulf port of Bushehr. After an eight-year delay, the first unit of the plant, which is built in cooperation with Russia, is supposed to be ready later this year.

Russia will provide nuclear fuel for the Bushehr plant.