Iran on Tuesday reopened nuclear research centres to resume sensitive work after a two-year suspension despite warnings from the West of possible United Nations sanctions.
”Iran has removed the seals at research centres with the agency’s agreement,” said Mohammad Saidi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
”And as of today these centres resume their activities,” Saidi told reporters. ”The research will be carried out in all the centres that we told the IAEA, and we will restart our work.”
In Vienna, the IAEA confirmed that Iran removed seals at its Natanz atomic research facility under the supervision of the agency’s inspectors.
”The production of nuclear fuel is still in suspension and we hope to reach a conclusion over it in the near future, and also reach a clear agreement with the Europeans in this regard,” Saidi said.
Tehran announced last week it would restart research into the nuclear fuel cycle on Monday despite international calls to keep the voluntary suspension of such work in place.
But it stalled the operation to await the cooperation of the IAEA.
The United States, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, reiterated on Monday that Iran may be referred to the UN Security Council over its action. But Russia said dialogue was still the only way forward.
Talks with Russia aimed at seeking a compromise over Iranian uranium enrichment, a key phase in the fuel cycle, are due to resume next month.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday he was ”losing patience” with what he called Iran’s lack of transparency, while his agency said it was up to Tehran to reveal its exact intentions.
The international community has already warned that ”the next step would be a referral to the Security Council” if Tehran failed to keep its international obligations, the White House said on Monday.
Spokesperson Scott McClellan told reporters that Iran must maintain a total suspension of activities linked to uranium enrichment, which produces fuel for nuclear power reactors but can also be used to make atomic bombs.
”The international community has growing concerns about the regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme,” said McClellan.
US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack also warned that US officials believe that, based on Iran’s past behaviour, Tehran ”is going to end up at the Security Council”.
Europe has warned that resuming nuclear fuel research would jeopardise any resumption of wider talks on ending the crisis with the West over Iran’s nuclear activities.
But in contrast to Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov said the issue must still be resolved by political means and under IAEA auspices.
”On the whole I think that this problem … must be resolved primarily within the political and diplomatic framework, and on the current stage, within the IAEA framework,” Ivanov said on Russian television.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday voiced defiance, saying Tehran would not give up its nuclear programme.
”The Islamic Republic of Iran will not give up its undeniable rights to peaceful nuclear technology, which has been achieved by the talented youth of the country,” Khamenei said.
Iran has been trying to draw a distinction between research into the fuel cycle and actual production of enriched uranium, which can be used as fuel in civil reactors or, in highly enriched form, as the explosive core of an atom bomb.
The removal of the seals came after talks between Russia and Iran on a proposed compromise to end the row over uranium enrichment broke off without result on Sunday, although they are to resume on February 16.
Moscow has been proposing that Tehran carry out uranium enrichment on Russian territory to allay Western fears that the technology could allow Iran to produce a nuclear bomb. — AFP
