Iran warned over nuclear programme

Daily Mail News:

31st July 2005

Britain has warned Iran to back away from a threat to resume its hugely controversial nuclear fuel programme.

In a statement, the Foreign Office urged Tehran to refrain from taking what it said would be an "unnecessary and damaging step".

Iran suspended all uranium conversion and enrichment activities in November 2004 as a result of international pressure. The US believes Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, though Iran insists its programme is for civilian use only.

However, Tehran has always insisted that the suspension was temporary and that it would resume some of its nuclear activities regardless of EU proposals.

Iran says the EU - represented by Britain, France and Germany (the E3) - had agreed to August 1 as a deadline for presenting a package of economic incentives to encourage Tehran to scale down its nuclear ambitions.

The three countries deny they ever agreed to such a deadline, saying they merely promised to submit their proposals in late July or early August.

Today the Foreign Office in London said: "We have received reports that the Iranians have decided to restart their uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, where activities have been suspended since November last year in accordance with successive IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) board resolutions and the terms of the Paris Agreement between Iran and the E3 (Britain, France and Germany).

"This would be an unnecessary and damaging step by Iran. The E3 foreign ministers and the EU High Representative have just written to Dr (Hasan) Rouhani - Iran's chief negotiator on nuclear activities - confirming that full and detailed proposals would be given to Iran in a week's time, in accordance with the decisions at the E3/Iran ministerial meeting in Geneva in May.

"We are seeking clarification of Iran's intentions. We urge them not to take any unilateral step which would contravene the Paris agreement as that would make it very difficult to continue with the E3/Iran negotiations.

"Should the Iranians persist, we will as a first step consult urgently with our partners on the board of the IAEA."

The situation was further confused today when Dr Rouhani claimed that his European counterparts have proposed a guarantee that Iran will not be invaded if Tehran agrees to a permanent halt on uranium enrichment.

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Dr Rouhani as saying that the proposal is under discussion by the Europeans and includes several important points such as "guarantees about Iran's integrity, independence, national sovereignty" and "nonaggression toward Iran."

"If Europe enjoys a serious political will about Iran's nuclear fuel cycle, there will be the possibility of understanding," the agency quoted Dr Rouhani as saying in a letter to outgoing Iranian president Mohammad Khatami.