TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior Iranian official here Tuesday verified that the country has resumed some work on uranium enrichment and postponed a new round of talks on a Russian compromise proposal until Feb. 20.
Javad Vaidi, Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told reporters that "according to the law passed by the Majlis (parliament), the president ordered the resumption."
Vaidi, who is also Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator, made the confirmation in response to a question on whether the enrichment has been resumed.
"In accordance with the Majlis ratification, I should say yes," he said, vowing his country would not back down on its nuclear fuel research activities.
Uranium enrichment is the key step for constructing nuclearfuel cycle, and highly enriched uranium can be used for building nuclear weapons.
Vaidi, however, steered clear of whether the key process offeeding uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges has resumed.
กก "Such issues are precise technical details," he said, stressing that Iran had just restarted the enrichment on a small scale but revealing no information on the date for resuming the large-scale enrichment.
The resumption of uranium enrichment came as a final step of Iran's reactions, in defiance of a recent decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, to report Iran's case to the UN Security Council.
Meanwhile, Vaidi also announced that the talks between Iran and Russia on a compromise proposal would be delayed until Feb. 20, which was originally scheduled on Thursday in Moscow.
Earlier on Monday, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian National Security and Foreign Relations Committee of the Majlis, told state television that the country has resumed "peaceful" uranium enrichment work.
Also on Monday, government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said that Iran would resume industrial enrichment prior to the IAEA's meeting on March 6.
On Feb. 4, the IAEA board of governors adopted a resolution drafted by the European Union (EU), which urges Iran to re-suspendall activities related to uranium enrichment and requires the agency to report Iran's file to the UN Security Council.
The resolution, however, asks the Security Council not to take actions until the IAEA meets on March 6.
In response to the resolution, Iran announced on Feb. 5 that it had ceased all voluntary cooperative measures, citing snap inspections of the IAEA which was required by the additional protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Iranian Majlis in December 2005 ratified a law demanding the government should cease all voluntary cooperative measures on the nuclear program if its nuclear program be hauled to the UN.
Aiming to defuse the escalating nuclear crisis, Russia suggested late December 2005 that Russia and Iran establish ajoint venture in Russia to enrichment uranium for Iran in a bid to disperse the suspicion over Iran's nuclear program while securing Iran's legitimate right to construct nuclear fuel cycle.
Iran has been posing equivocal stance on the proposal, saying the suggestion was not negative but has to be complemented in order to meet Iran's energy needs, which was accused by the U.S.as a move to buy time.
Iran suspended uranium enrichment in December 2003 and signed the additional protocol to build confidence under the persuasions of the European trio of Britain, France and Germany.
Owing to dissatisfaction with the progress of the talks with the EU trio, Tehran resumed uranium conversion work, a precursor to the enrichment, in August 2005 in defiance of the tough-worded warnings from the EU. Such a move triggered the seven-month tension over the Iranian nuclear issue.
Iran also resumed nuclear fuel research work, namely uraniumen richment on a small scale, on Jan. 10, another move leading to an escalation of the crisis.
The EU, based on the U.S. accusation that Iran is developing nuclear weapons secretly, holds that Iran's full mastery of nuclear fuel cycle technology would possibly lead to military usage.
But Iran insists that its nuclear program is fully peaceful and aimed at meeting its rising domestic demand for electricity. Enditem
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