Iran resumes nuke research
U.N. inspectors remove seals on nuclear facilities, Iran says Germany warns of 'consequences'
Officials of the United Nations nuclear agency removed seals on Iran's nuclear facilities Tuesday and research work resumed, said the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
The move is likely to increase pressure on Iran from Western nations which have called for it to cease nuclear activities until an agreement has been reached on the scope of its nuclear program.
Mohammad Saeedi told reporters at a press conference that officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency had authorized the seals' removal on Monday night.
"Today, with the powers delegated to IAEA inspectors in Iran, some of the seals that are in the field of only research were removed, and research facilities resume their work," Saeedi said.
IAEA inspectors had arrived in Tehran on Saturday to remove the seals put on the nuclear research sites more than two years ago.
They had been expected to complete their task Monday, when Tehran-based journalists expected an announcement as Iran had vowed it would immediately resume work. Saeedi stressed that Iran was not resuming the production of nuclear fuel, a process that would involve uranium enrichment.
"What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more than that," he said. "We make a difference between research on nuclear fuel technology and production of nuclear fuel. Production of nuclear fuel remains suspended."
International criticism
Senior United States, German and British officials criticized Iran on Monday for its declared intention to resume nuclear work that it had suspended as a good will gesture toward negotiations on its nuclear program.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said each of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council had told Iran to drop its plans or risk being hauled before the council for possible sanctions. "We are working very closely with Russia, China and France and Britain on sending a clear message to the Iranians," McCormack said.
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Monday that Iran was sending "very, very disastrous signals" on its nuclear program, and indicated that the country's latest moves would have consequences for Tehran's talks with European negotiators.
In New York, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters that if Iran carried out its pledge of resuming nuclear activities, then it would be in violation of the IAEA.
"It's quite clear if Iran today, or in the next days, takes the steps it has announced it will do, then it will be in breach of the wishes of the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency," he said.
