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Iran warns EU against 'harsh' actions in dispute
17 August 2005
TEHRAN - Tehran warned the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany over radical actions against Iran in the ongoing dispute over the Islamic state's controversial nuclear programme, local media reported Wednesday.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Deputy Mohammad Saaidi said on state television that "the harsher the Europeans play the game, the more Iran will get decisive on pursuing other nuclear projects".
Iran has re-started work at its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan in central Iran and, according to Saaidi, will not halt work at the plant despite the August 11 resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to do so.
Saaidi termed any
harsh decisions against Iran in the upcoming September 3 meeting of the IAEA - such as referring the case to the United Nations Security Council - would have no legal basis.
Iran has only realized its acknowledged right on the basis of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and additional protocol from the IAEA, Saaidi said.
New chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday that Iran would not close down the Isfahan plant but also not resume uranium enrichment activities in the neighbouring Natanz plant, at least not without further negotiations with the E.U. trio.
In Isfahan, uranium ore is converted into hexafluoride gas and stored in the plant. The next step is to feed the gas into centrifuges for the enrichment process, to be effected in the Natanz plant.
Low-grade enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel, which Tehran says is the final aim of its nuclear intentions.
However, the same process, at a higher grade, could be used to produce an atomic bomb, a prospect the E.U. and the U.S. are trying to prevent. I think at this point, they can leave the US out of the equation?
