Iran Vows New Steps to Enrich Uranium

VIENNA Iran said Wednesday that it would break the remaining seals on uranium-converting equipment at its facility in Isfahan as European diplomats in Vienna sought to persuade developing countries that Tehran's resumption of nuclear activities should be condemned.

"The rest of the seals will be removed today, and the activities will resume," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's nuclear energy agency, was quoted by news agencies as saying.

Removing the remaining seals, which were put in place last year by the UN's nuclear monitoring agency under a voluntary agreement, will mean that Iran will be able to resume the second phase of the uranium conversion process, which Iran says it is pursuing for its civilian nuclear program.

Iran resumed the first phase of uranium conversion Monday, and diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency are divided as to how to respond. Developing countries, represented by Malaysia, made a joint statement at the talks Tuesday affirming the "basic and inalienable right of all member states to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes."

Britain, France and Germany, meanwhile, are pushing for a forceful response but do not plan to request a referral to the UN Security Council at this meeting.

"Negotiations continue among the 35 member states of the IAEA board of governors to reach consensus on language that will be presented to the full board," said Peter Rickwood, a spokesman for the UN agency. Meetings were unlikely to resume Wednesday, officials said, underlining the divisions among countries represented here.

Iran struck a combative stance at the meeting Tuesday, calling its uranium conversion program a "jewel."

"The operation in Isfahan will continue," Cyrus Nasseri, Iran's delegate to the talks, told reporters after an extraordinary meeting of the agency's governing board. "There is no reason to suspend this activity," he said.

Diplomats from the 35 countries represented on the governing board, which includes countries as diverse as China, India, Japan, Korea, Britain, Yemen, Slovakia and the United States, are seeking consensus on the issue rather than a majority vote, agency officials said.

An early draft of a resolution obtained by The Associated Press expressed "serious concern" about the resumption of conversion in Isfahan and urged Iran to cooperate by "re-establishing full suspension of all enrichment-related activities."

The specific process that Iran restarted on Monday is the first step in a lengthy process to convert uranium into nuclear fuel, a process is used both for civilian and military purposes.

Iran says it will use the materials for its program to generate electricity through nuclear power.

At the talks Tuesday, the leader of the US delegation, Greg Schulte, said the United States shared its European allies' "deep concern about the course Iran is taking."

"Iran must not be allowed to violate its international commitments and must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons," Schulte said.

Asked for his reaction, Nasseri, the head of the Iranian delegation, issued a biting retort.

"Today is the commemoration of the bombing of Nagasaki," he told reporters. "The United States is the sole nuclear weapons state which had the guts to drop a bomb to kill and maim and turn into ashes millions in a split second. The United States is no position whatsoever to tell anyone and to preach to anyone as to what they should or should not do in their nuclear program."

In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made similarly strong comments, calling treatment of uranium "our right," according to the Iranian Students News Agency.

Speaking to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, by telephone, Ahmadinejad said he would continue negotiations with Britain, France and Germany, the three countries leading a European Union effort to circumscribe Iran's nuclear program.

But Ahmadinejad repeated rejections of a European package of economic, trade and security incentives for Iran to curtail its nuclear activities.

"What the Europeans sent us is not a proposal but an insult to our people," Ahmadinejad said. "Their tone is as though Iranian people are a backward nation."

President George W. Bush, speaking from his ranch in Texas, said that if Iran did not cooperate, UN sanctions were "a potential consequence."

"We'll work with our friends on steps forward, on ways to deal with the Iranians if they so choose to ignore the demands of the world," Bush said. He added that Ahmadinejad's statement that he was willing to continue negotiations was a "positive sign."

"If he did say that, I think that's a positive sign that the Iranians are getting a message, that it's not just the United States that's worried about their nuclear programs, but the Europeans are serious in calling the Iranians to account and negotiating," Bush said.

In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry issued a toughly worded statement that called on Iran to "stop work that has begun on uranium conversion without delay," news services reported.

In France, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was "still possible to negotiate" with Iran. "We are still holding out our hand," he said, according to Agence France-Presse.

In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder urged Iran to "look again at its position."

"The overarching goal must be that we can solve this very difficult, worrying conflict peacefully," Schröder said. "I don't see any option other than reaching the goals via negotiations."