Iran ties nuke enrichment to U.N. action

USA Today:

Posted 9/18/2005 10:22 PM

Iran warned Sunday that it would consider uranium enrichment if the United Nations' nuclear agency takes the issue of Iran's nuclear program to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

Also, Hossein Shariatmadari, a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged parliament to pass a law that would force the government to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the Security Council got involved. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the General Assembly on Saturday that production of nuclear fuel was Iran's "inalienable right."

Uranium enriched to low levels can produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity; further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is intended to produce electricity, and it has rejected a European Union offer of economic aid in exchange for ending its nuclear program. The United States says Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Contributing: By Paul Leavitt with wire reports