Iran warns IAEA over Security Council referral

By Parisa Hafezi

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

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

Tehran says it has the right as a signatory of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty to maintain a nuclear program and
insists its atomic ambitions are peaceful. But the United
States and critics suspect Iran of trying to develop nuclear
weapons.

The IAEA’s 35-member board of governors meets in Vienna on
Monday with Washington and its EU allies keen to hold a vote to
refer Tehran to the Security Council where it may face punitive
action.

“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.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the U.N. General
Assembly on Saturday Tehran was determined to press ahead with
making nuclear fuel. He said other nations, such as South
Africa, could participate in its nuclear program to ensure no
material was diverted to weapons production.

British Foreign Minister Jack Straw on Sunday called
Ahmadinejad’s speech on Iran’s nuclear program disappointing.

An EU spokeswoman also said the president’s speech left no
alternative for the EU but to pursue a U.N. referral.

International pressure has mounted on Iran since it broke
U.N. seals at a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan last month.
Work had been suspended under a November deal with the EU.

Iran, which says it will never use its nuclear program to
produce anything other than electricity, has so far refrained
from resuming work at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

“We are closely watching the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting.
If there’s a radical result, Iran will decide based on that,”
Asefi said.

Another Iranian official indicated that Iran was keen to
restart uranium enrichment work.

“If the nuclear negotiations (with the EU) are stopped, it
is normal that we will start the activities at Natanz
facility,” Ali Aghamohammadi, spokesman for the Supreme
National Security Council, was quoted as saying by the Sharq
newspaper on Sunday.

Washington, the EU and IAEA have called on Iran to end
sensitive activities and resume talks with the EU, which broke
down last month after resumption of work at the Isfahan plant.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper, which has long called for
Iran to withdraw from the NPT, on Sunday urged parliament to
pass a bill to oblige the government to resume uranium
conversion, if Iran’s nuclear case was referred to the Council.

“Iran should explicitly announce that it will resume its
voluntarily suspended nuclear activity if the board of
governors holds Iran’s nuclear case in limbo over the next few
months,” the daily’s editorial said.