Iran warns IAEA against Security Council referral

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran on Sunday warned the board of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against sending its
atomic case to the U.N. Security Council, hinting such a move
could prompt Tehran to start uranium enrichment.

“Our advice to the agency is to review Iran’s case tomorrow
logically and realistically to avoid making the case more
complicated,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told
a weekly news conference.

“We haven’t started (uranium) enrichment yet but everything
depends on the result of tomorrow’s meeting,” he said.

Uranium enrichment is the most sensitive part of the
nuclear fuel cycle and can be used to make either atomic
reactor fuel or bomb-grade material.

Iran, which insists it will never use its nuclear program
to produce anything other than electricity, broke U.N. seals at
a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan last month, but has so
far refrained from resuming work at its Natanz enrichment
facility.

“Restarting Natanz is not on our agenda yet,” Asefi said.
“We are closely watching the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting. If
there’s a radical result, Iran will decide based on that.”

Washington and its allies in the European Union who fear
Iran’s nuclear program could be used to make atomic weapons
would like the IAEA’s 35-member board of governors to refer
Iran to the Security Council on Monday to face punitive action.

But many non-Western countries such as Russia, China, India
and South Africa are reluctant to back referral of Iran’s case,
making the outcome of the IAEA meeting in Vienna uncertain.