Iran 'resuming enrichment work'

VIENNA - Iran has resumed some uranium enrichment work, geared to making fuel for nuclear reactors or bombs, in defiance of a vote to engage the UN Security Council in efforts to rein in Tehran's atomic ambitions, diplomats said.

Iran said yesterday that it would resume enrichment, voluntarily suspended for two years while it held talks with European Union powers which collapsed last month, by early March but gave no date.

Tehran also announced it had put off talks on a Russian proposal to avert a Security Council showdown by enriching Iranian uranium on its soil, ensuring none was diverted for other purposes. Moscow said it was prepared to go ahead with the talks on Thursday as planned.

Diplomats in missions dealing with the UN nuclear watchdog agency in Vienna told Reuters Iran had resumed some uranium purification activity at its Natanz plant late on Sunday.

If confirmed, the move would signal Iran's determination to press ahead with its nuclear project despite a February 4 vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Tehran to the Security Council, which could consider sanctions.

Iran retaliated for the decision by the 35-nation IAEA board of governors by halting short-notice IAEA inspections, a crucial tool in assessing whether Iran's nuclear programme is wholly peaceful, and vowing to enrich uranium once again.

The West fears that the Islamic Republic, which hid its nuclear black-market purchases and enrichment work from the IAEA for almost 20 years and has called for Israel's destruction, is secretly trying to build atomic bombs.

Tehran denies this, saying it seeks only atomic energy for an expanding economy. Its leaders suggest they are confident Western efforts to curb Iran's nuclear project will run out of steam given international dependence on Iranian oil exports.

"Indications that they have resumed enrichment would explain why they've stalled the Russia talks," said an EU diplomat who like others spoke on condition of anonymity.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking at the White House after talks with President George W. Bush, said of the standoff with Iran "We need to be able to resolve it, and I hope there will be no steps taken to escalate the situation."

Last month, Iran broke IAEA seals on mothballed equipment at its Natanz pilot fuel-purification plant and began renovations, spurring the EU to freeze flagging talks with Tehran and sponsor a resolution at the IAEA to notify the Security Council.

The enrichment process involves feeding uranium UF6 gas into cascades of centrifuges, cylindrical machines that purify the material by spinning at supersonic speeds.

If purified to levels of about 5 per cent, uranium can fuel nuclear reactors. Enriched to about 90 per cent, a longer and more difficult undertaking, it would be able to trigger the chain reaction for nuclear explosions.

Greenpeace nuclear analyst William Peden said Iranian efforts to purify uranium at this stage would involve testing only a few centrifuges, far from the hundreds needed to produce fuel for atomic warheads.

Diplomats and nuclear experts estimate Iran would need between two and more than 10 years to perfect technology needed to create a nuclear arsenal, if indeed it wants one.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States for international tensions with his country.

"They choose to threaten us and make false allegations and they want to impose their lifestyle on others and this is not acceptable," he was quoted as saying by USA Today newspaper.

- REUTERS