Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to let reports of a possible assassination attempt deter him from travelling to Iran, saying if he paid heed to all such threats he would "never leave home."

Putin said Monday he would proceed with the long-planned visit with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, seen at a Russian-German conference on Monday, says he won't let a reported assassination plot keep him from visiting Iran.
(Daniel Roland/Associated Press)

"Of course I am going to Iran," Putin said at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following talks with her in Germany. "If I always listened to all the various threats and the recommendations of the special services, I would never leave home."

The Kremlin said Sunday that suicide bombers planned to carry out an assassination in Iran during Putin's visit there this week.

Iranian officials called reports of a plot false information spread by those seeking to ruin relations with Russia.

The trip to Tehran was planned to discuss issues affecting states bordering on the Caspian Sea, but will likely also focus on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear plant despite suspicions by some Western countries that the material may be used by Iran to build nuclear weapons.

The U.S. has pushed for stronger sanctions against Tehran. While Moscow has urged Iran to comply with international controls on its nuclear program, Russia has also been dragging its feet on the plant's completion.

Putin has underlined the need to solve the problem "through peaceful measures."

Putin's trip to Tehran has been repeatedly postponed as has the launch of the nuclear plant in the southern port of Bushehr.

Russia said early this year the plant wouldn't be launched this fall as planned because Iran was slow in making payments.

Iranian officials denied any payment arrears and accused the Kremlin of caving into pressure from the West.

During the visit to Iran, Putin is set to meet with Ahmadinejad and attend Tuesday's summit of Caspian Sea nations.

Putin is the first Kremlin leader to travel to Iran since Josef Stalin attended the 1943 wartime summit with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

With files from the Associated Press