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Iran to Resume N-Fuel Research, Stirring Concern

Posted on: Friday, 6 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By Ali Akbar Dareini

Iran told the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Tuesday it planned to resume nuclear fuel research after a 21/2-year hiatus, issuing a fresh challenge to Western nations concerned that Tehran was trying to build an atomic weapon.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it was important that Tehran "maintains its suspension of all enrichment-related activity" as a way of reducing international suspicions about its nuclear plans.

Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said research would "resume in cooperation and coordination with the IAEA in the next few days," adding that it would "have little to do with the production of nuclear fuel."

Beyond that, he would not specify what type of research Tehran planned but claimed its nuclear program had suffered significantly during the research suspension. He said Iran could no longer keep its research scientists in limbo.

Iran has said it remains determined, at some point, to resume uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear weapons.

The Tuesday announcement, while vague, was certain to raise further concerns in the United States and among its European allies who believe Iran wants to build a nuclear arsenal. Tehran says its nuclear program is for electricity generation.

ElBaradei also called on Iran to "build confidence and enable the resumption of dialogue with all concerned parties."

The Iranian mission to the IAEA said Tehran has decided to resume on Monday research and development "on the peaceful nuclear energy program which has been suspended," ElBaradei told the agency's board.

A European diplomat accredited to the agency said it was too early to evaluate the significance of the move and whether it would scuttle talks planned for later this month.

The EU has previously said that any decision by Iran to resume work on its uranium enrichment program would be "the red line" that would end European attempts to negotiate differences with Iran.

Furthermore, the EU has said a resumption of work on the program would revive attempts to take Iran to the U.N. Security Council for violating the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

But the diplomat, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss European Union strategy, said the Europeans needed details of precisely what Iran planned to research before making a decision on future talks. Iran has come under heavy international pressure to abandon its program to produce fuel for its Russian-built nuclear reactor that is due to come online this year and for its future nuclear power plants.

Source: Buffalo News

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