Iran tells IAEA atom research resumes January 9

VIENNA (Reuters) – The International Atomic Energy Agency
received a note from Iran on Tuesday saying it would resumed
its suspended nuclear fuel research on January 9, a Western
diplomat said.

He told Reuters that IAEA Secretary-General Mohamed
ElBaradei had informed the 35 countries on the U.N. watchdog
agency’s board about Iran’s note and said he was seeking
clarifications about its implications.

Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy
Organization, had announced earlier in the day that the nuclear
fuel work would resume shortly. The move was sure to anger
Washington and the European Union, which fear the Islamic state
wants to make atomic fuel to build bombs.

Iran’s message, parts of which were quoted in ElBaradei’s
note to IAEA board members and read to Reuters by the diplomat,
cited the Islamic republic’s “full privilege and inalienable
rights” in pursuing atomic energy under the IAEA’s covenant and
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran signed.

” … The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has decided to
resume from January 9, 2006, R&D (research and development) on
the peaceful nuclear energy program which was suspended as part
of its expanded voluntary and non-legally binding suspension,”
Iran’s message said.

“The agency (IAEA) is thus requested to take necessary and
timely preparation in this regard,” Iran’s note said. “It is to
be noted that the said R&D will be conducted in accordance with
Iran’s safeguards agreement with the IAEA.”

Research on nuclear fuel may include some small-scale
testing of sensitive atomic processes, including uranium
enrichment, an activity Iran has said it is keen to master.

The note sent by ElBaradei to IAEA board members said the
agency’s secretariat was “seeking clarifications from Iran as
to the implications of the note.”

The news coincided with strong hints from Iran’s Foreign
Ministry that Tehran planned to reject a Russian proposal to
defuse Iran’s stand-off with the West by enriching Iranian
uranium in Russia to prevent diversions to weapons-related
work.

“This (Iranian announcement) is a withdrawal from the
suspension, so it’s pretty serious. This is all about Natanz,
since research and development is related to that,” said the
Western diplomat, referring to an Iranian enrichment plant
mothballed by earlier agreement with the European Union.