Iran Resumes Enrichment Despite Global Warnings

15/02/2006| IslamWeb

Iran confirmed it had resumed limited uranium enrichment, as world powers warned it against any failure to cooperate over its suspect nuclear program.

"The work has resumed (at the Natanz enrichment facility)," said Javad Vaidi, a member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

The move came despite warnings from France, Russia and the     United Nations not to take action that might escalate the tense dispute with the West over fears it is seeking the nuclear bomb.

Germany and China also expressed concern.

Vaidi said it was "unacceptable" for Iran to halt its research on uranium enrichment, a process that makes reactor fuel but can also be extended to make the core of a nuclear weapon.

"There is no reason for the moment to return to the suspension (at Natanz)," he added.

Vaidi cautioned that Iran "needs time to reach industrial capacity of up to 60,000 centrifuges" at Natanz, which has two enrichment facilities.

Gholamreza Aghazadeh, chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, later reiterated what he said was the small-scale nature of the renewed activities.

"There is still no program for industrial production and for enrichment on an industrial scale," he said.

The "enrichment at Natanz will be limited to research ... which requires a long time, and injecting UF6 gas into a few centrifuges does not constitute enrichment."

In research, "to go from a few centrifuges to a chain of 164, several months are necessary," he said. At the time it stopped enrichment more than two years ago, Iran had 164 centrifuges at Natanz.

Iran, which insists its nuclear work is purely for energy generation, had warned on Monday it would not wait for a crucial meeting of the     International Atomic Energy Agency on March 6 to resume enrichment.

The IAEA voted on February 4 to report Iran to the Security Council, but left a one-month window for diplomacy, for Iran to return to a full suspension of enrichment-related work and cooperate more fully with IAEA inspectors.

So far Iran has reacted by doing the opposite, setting the scene for a major showdown.

But Vaidi said an Iranian delegation will head to Russia on February 20 for talks on a compromise proposal that could help resolve the standoff, which has escalated since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in August.

The two sides had been due to hold talks on Thursday to develop Moscow's proposal for enrichment to be carried out on Russian soil, but Tehran postponed the visit.

Russia's idea is to guarantee Iranian access to nuclear fuel needed to generate electricity but at the same time prevent the country from developing fuel cycle technology by itself and therefore the capacity to make a bomb.

The Russian plan, which Iran has been reluctant to accept, has received conditional and cautious support from the Western powers.

However, Russia and France signaled their growing impatience during a visit to Moscow by French Premier Dominique de Villepin.

Villepin and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint declaration calling on Iran "to conform fully" with demands of the IAEA, "including the full suspension of all activities linked to enriching and recycling" of uranium.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a united front in the international community.

"We believe that it is very important that the cohesion of the international community is maintained in the face of this challenge and we are working toward this objective," Steinmeier told reporters in Jordan.

"The UK, France and Germany have tried to contribute to the discussions and see to it that the nuclear ambition of Iran could be somewhat dampened. Unfortunately we have not been very successful."

China also called for all sides to show restraint, although it remained hopeful the situation could be resolved through diplomacy.

"We are concerned about the current situation," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said shortly before Iran announced resumption of enrichment.

"We hope all sides will remain calm, restrained, patient and show flexibility."

However, Liu said "we believe that there is still lots of room for negotiations within the IAEA framework and the international community should not abandon their efforts through the IAEA."

The deputy head of Tehran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Saeedi, denied reports that Iran had already started putting uranium feedstock gas into its enrichment centrifuges.

"This information was spread with a deliberate goal," Saeedi said, according to the Fars news agency.

He said Iran would announce in the next few days when it starts the process, which involves putting uranium hexafluoride gas or UF6 into a cylinder which is then spun at high speed.

Iran has been defiant about the threat of sanctions if the IAEA refers Tehran to the UN Security Council at its pivotal March 6 meeting.

In an interview published Monday, Ahmadinejad warned that nations calling for economic sanctions would lose far more than Tehran.

Israel's new army intelligence chief Amos Yadlin called Iran the "main threat" to the Jewish state and said Tehran was likely to have the capacity to develop nuclear weapons by the end of the decade.

Israel itself is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East.

PHOTO CAPTION

This satellite image obtained from the private company DigitalGlobe shows a close-up view of facilities near the town of Nantanz, Iran, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Tehran. (AFP)