Tehran – Iran resumed sensitive nuclear activities at one of its facilities on Monday, despite warnings from European negotiators that the move would prompt them to refer the case to the U.N. Security Council for punitive action.
With surveillance cameras from the International Atomic Energy Agency installed, Iranian technicians at a facility outside Isfahan resumed the intricate process of converting uranium that Iran says is intended to yield energy but that the West worries is a precursor to the development of nuclear weapons.
The United States and its European allies reacted with dismay to the renewed activity and left little doubt that they would take Iran to the U.N. Security Council with a recommendation for economic sanctions if Iran doesn’t back down.
The State Department even held out the possibility that the United States might deny a visa to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was sworn in Saturday as Iran’s president, to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York next month.
Iran has long contended that it has the legal right to convert and enrich uranium for peaceful energy purposes but agreed to suspend its activities as long as negotiations lasted with Britain, France and Germany over its nuclear program. Iran has admitted to deceiving inspectors for 17 years about many of its activities.
Concerned that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, European negotiators put forward a proposal last week – with the support of the United States – to provide Iran with economic, technological, security and political incentives if it permanently abandoned its conversion and enrichment activities.
But Iran rejected the proposal, saying the offer failed to meet its “minimum expectations.” Even before rebuffing the offer, Iran had asked the IAEA to set up cameras at the facility so that it could resume its nuclear program under the watchful eyes of inspectors.
Mohammad Saidi, vice president for Iran’s Atomic Organization, who was present at the facility near Isfahan on Monday, said that Iran would like to continue negotiating with Europe and intended to keep its freeze on nuclear enrichment.
Yet the facility began an early stage of the process, known as conversion, the official Iranian news agency reported.
Uranium conversion involves turning mined uranium, known as yellowcake, into a gas known as uranium tetrafluoride, or UF4. The gas is then turned into uranium hexafluoride, or UF6, which can be fed into centrifuges for enrichment. The process can lead to making nuclear fuel or, if enriched to high levels, nuclear weapons.