Iran Resumes Uranium Conversion Against UN Wishes

Iran resumed uranium conversion
activities at its nuclear plant in the central city of Isfahan
today in a move that could prompt the United Nations Security
Council to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Iran began to feed uranium ore concentrate into the first
part of its process line, the International Atomic Energy Agency
said in an e-mailed statement. The Vienna-based UN agency said
that IAEA seals preventing Iran from completing the uranium
enrichment process remain intact.
Iran's decision to resume uranium conversion will probably
end negotiations with France, Germany and the U.K. The so-called
EU-3 countries offered Iran trade and technology incentives in
return for a halt in the nuclear fuel cycle. Iran rejected their
latest offer Aug. 6. The U.S. said the Security Council in New
York should discuss possible sanctions, if Iran resumed
processing.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the U.S would
confer with the EU-3 countries on the next step. ``This is Iran
thumbing its nose at a productive approach by the EU-3, and we'll
have to work together to take a response,'' Ereli told reporters
in Washington.
The Islamic Republic also named Ali Larijani to replace
Hassan Rohani as Iran's top nuclear negotiator, according to the
official Islamic Republic News Agency. Rohani had led Iran's
efforts to craft an agreement with European negotiators.
The U.S.-backed European diplomatic effort to get Iran to
step back from the brink of pursuing atomic arms is a test of
wills between Europe and new Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who was sworn in as president Aug. 3.
The IAEA will hold an emergency meeting of its board of
governors tomorrow in Vienna to discuss Iran's decision to
restart its uranium program. Conversion is an initial step in
enriching uranium, or boosting the concentration of the U-235
isotope that starts and sustains a nuclear reaction.