Iran says may resume nuclear work if talks fail
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-05-01 09:27

Iran will resume nuclear activities concerning uranium enrichment next week if it failed to reach an agreement with the European Union over Iran's nuclear file, the chief nuclear negotiator said on Saturday.

"Iran will make decision on resumption of uranium enrichment in Tehran next week," Hassan Rowhani, also secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

Rowhani said that the actual uranium enrichment would not be resumed but some of related activates would be restarted."Uranium enrichment is unlikely to be resumed in Natanz. Parts of the activities may be resumed in the Isfahan UCF-Ultracentrifuge, equipment used to enrich uranium, next week, andparts of operational plan will be launched in Isfahan next week,"he said.

Rowhani's comments came one day after negotiators of Iran and the European Union held a new round of nuclear talks in London.Iranian negotiator Cyrus Nasseri said that the two sides had made some progress in the talks but agreements on some key issues were still far from being reached.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi threatened one day ahead of the negotiations that Tehran would resume uranium enrichment ifthe talks yielded no fruits.

Enrichment uranium of low level can be used to generate electricity but that of high level can be used to develop nuclear weapons.

The United Stated has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, a charge rejected by Iran as "politically motivated."Under mounting international pressure, Iran downright suspended uranium enrichment activities last November, insisting that it bea "temporary move" to build confidence.

Since the suspension, Tehran and the European trio of Britain,France and Germany have held several rounds of talks to implementeconomic and technological incentives proposed by the EU.However, the two sided failed to reach an agreement on many keyissues.

The EU asked Iran to permanently halt enrichment to provide "objective guarantees" that Tehran would not divert its nuclearresearch to military purpose.

Iran suggested that it keep enrichment while providing "objective guarantees," a non-existent concurrence according to the EU.

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