Iran threatens to resume uranium enrichment

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran broadened its threats Tuesday over a move to refer it to the U.N. Security Council, saying that unless the U.N. atomic watchdog agency backs down, it will resume uranium enrichment, block inspections of its nuclear facilities and cut trade with countries that supported the resolution.

Despite the threats, Russia's minister of atomic energy and Vienna-based diplomats said Iran does not have ability to resume enrichment immediately.

"Currently Iran has no enrichment capacity -- there is no possible way Iranians can enrich uranium," said Alexander Rumyantsev, Russia's minister of atomic energy and an expert on Tehran's nuclear program. He said Iran's only known enrichment facility -- a small pilot project at Natanz -- would take more than a year to begin operations.

In another move that suggests a toughening of Iran's position, the hard-line dominated parliament was considering a measure to force the government to bar short-notice intrusive U.N. inspections of its facilities if Tehran's right to enrich uranium is not respected by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran was considering reducing its trade with those countries that voted for Saturday's resolution, particularly India.

"We will reconsider our economic relations with countries that voted against us," he told a news conference.

"We were very surprised by India," he said. The country is interested in importing Iranian natural gas through a pipeline that will pass through Pakistan.

Iran insists its nuclear program is designed for generating electricity, but the United States and others accuse it of seeking to develop atomic weapons.

"Iran has every right for enrichment ... for peaceful use of nuclear energy," said Rumyantsev, the Russian minister.

His comments on Iran's enrichment capabilities were backed by diplomats accredited to the IAEA who were briefed on the state of Iran's conversion efforts. The diplomats said the tons of uranium gas produced since Iran resumed that activity last month was contaminated and therefore unusable as the feedstock for enrichment.

"It would need purification before it would be suitable," said one of the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity as a condition of discussing the confidential information.

Still he warned against dismissing the conversion efforts.

"They need to work on their ... production, but they're getting expertise" -- learning through their mistakes, said the diplomat.

The IAEA resolution put Iran on the verge of referral to the U.N. Security Council unless Tehran eases suspicions about its nuclear activities. The resolution ordered Iran to suspend all enrichment activities, including uranium conversion, to abandon construction of a heavy water nuclear reactor and to grant access to certain military locations, individuals and documents.

Iran has rejected the resolution, protesting it was politically motivated and without legal foundation.

Asefi said Tuesday that Iran was asking its European negotiating partners -- Britain, France and Germany -- and the IAEA for two things.

"First, they should not insist (on the terms of the resolution). Second, they should correct it," Asefi said.

He said Iran would otherwise cease to abide by the "voluntary measures" that it has been implementing as an expression of good will.

Effectively, this means that Iran would resume enrichment of uranium, which is currently suspended, and disregard the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, under which it grants IAEA inspectors the right to unfettered inspections of its nuclear facilities at short notice.

"The timing for Iran to resume some voluntary suspended activities depends on the behavior of the Europeans. We don't accept the language of force," Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told reporters after addressing a closed session of the parliament Tuesday.

Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday were considering legislation that would force the government to bar intrusive inspections as long as Iran's right to possess the whole nuclear fuel cycle -- from extracting uranium ore to enriching it -- is not recognized.

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Associated Press writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna, Austria.