Iran warns West

Tehran's delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Sirus Nasseri, warned Europe and the United States Wednesday against referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council over the resumption of operations at its uranium conversion plant, saying the move would be a step toward "the path of confrontation."

In addition to threatening the West, Iran upped the stakes in the current standoff by breaking U.N. seals that had been placed voluntarily on equipment at the facility in the southern city of Isfahan eight months ago, when Tehran agreed to freeze most of its nuclear program.

Technicians then immediately resumed work on the process that turns raw uranium into gas for enrichment.

The breaking of the seals was the latest move of Iranian brinkmanship over its nuclear ambitions.

Iran's 'legal right'

The hard-line government's determination to move ahead left Europe and the United States scrambling over what to do next.

Iran has rejected European proposals to limit its program in return for economic incentives and shrugged off threats of U.N. sanctions.

Any attempt to impose sanctions could face a veto in the U.N. Security Council from Russia and China, which have close ties with Iran.

In an interview with the BBC, Nasseri said Iran had a "legal right" to create nuclear energy.

"What we have been trying to do is see whether it would be possible to continue our enrichment activity with an agreement and through an agreement with Europe," he said.

"It seems with the offer that the Europeans made that is no longer a possibility, at least not for the time being, and therefore we have no other alternative but to do what is our right," he added.

While Tehran insists its nuclear program is intended to supply energy to this country of 68 million, Washington and Jerusalem both believe Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons.