Defiant Iran resumes uranium work

Iran resumed uranium work at a key nuclear facility August 9, ignoring warnings from Washington and European capitals that such a move could land the issue of Tehran's nuclear efforts in the U.N. Security Council, which has the authority to impose economic sanctions or an oil embargo.

In a strongly worded letter to the governments of Britain, France and Germany, Iranian officials also formally rejected a European offer that held out promises of better relations with the West in exchange for Iran's decision to dismantle much of its nuclear program.

The letter and the decision to restart a uranium conversion facility in the town of Isfahan came ahead of an emergency meeting of the 35-member board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) August 10 in Vienna to discuss Iran's program. It also threw into turmoil more than two years of negotiations between Tehran and the three European countries aimed at resolving suspicions about Iran's nuclear energy program, which includes technologies that could be diverted to atomic weapons work.

The Europeans have said the negotiations would be terminated if Iran resumed any part of its nuclear program that had been on hold.

Diplomats met in Vienna yesteday to draft a resolution urging Iran to shut down the conversion facility and return to talks with the Europeans.

The Bush administration, which has argued for more than two years that the Iran issue belongs in the U.N. Security Council, is looking for a toughly worded resolution that would move the matter directly to a U.N. review in New York if Iran continued with the conversion work.

U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Washington was consulting allies "about how we should respond to this action.''

Ereli also suggested the United States could deny a visa for Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to attend a U.N. summit in New York next month. Ereli said Washington will support European efforts ``to get this process back on track," but added, "I don't want to predict an outcome of what will happen and when."

In Vienna and Washington, diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it was unlikely the IAEA board would immediately refer the matter to the Security Council because Iran's actions do not violate any international laws.

Britain, France and Germany have said they would support a Security Council referral if the diplomatic process appears exhausted, but they were working diplomatic channels to coax the Iranians back to negotiations before the crisis escalates.

"Negotiations are not off the table and can always be resumed,'' said Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. "But nothing can reverse the resumption of work at Isfahan.''

Iran agreed in November, after months of talks with the three European countries, to suspend its nuclear program while the four parties discussed the possibility of a final agreement.

On August 5, the European trio offered Iran a package of incentives in exchange for a legally binding commitment by Iran to permanently forgo much of its nuclear program.

Iran, has said it would not give up the program.