"He will definitely not come today," an embassy official said. The embassy declined to provide the reason for the cancellation or whether Rohani will reschedule his trip.

There was speculation in Moscow that the cancellation was due to a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who arrived in the Russian capital on Sunday for a three-day visit.

Sharon was to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Monday to try to convince Russia to drop its efforts to turn the Middle East "roadmap" into a binding UN resolution.

Sharon would also ask Putin to keep up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, an official with the Israeli delegation told AFP.

Israel hopes that Russia "is doing everything possible to prevent the transfer of technologies on uranium enrichment and fusion that are indispensable for developing a nuclear program that constitutes a strategic menace for Israel," the official said.

Russia is building the Islamic state's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr, which has been fiercely criticized by the United States and Israel.

Rohani was due to arrive in Moscow on Monday morning and was due to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

WAR.WIRE