EU-Iran Nuclear Tension Reported

An Iranian diplomat flew to Vienna on Wednesday with a letter for the International Atomic Energy Agency, and a Western diplomat said it was believed to be formal notification that Iran would resume conversion of uranium ore, the first step in a process that can produce reactor fuel or material for bombs.

But the Washington Post reported that Iran had decided to hold off delivering the notification after receiving a sharply worded letter from the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany saying they would end negotiations and back the U.S. call for punitive measures if the conversion began.

Mohammed Saeedi, deputy chief of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, said Monday that Iran would restart the conversion plant in Isfahan within days. But after receiving the European letter, an Iranian diplomat told the Post on condition of anonymity that his government was exploring an offer in the letter for a four-way meeting sometime in the next two weeks.

The three European Union members have been trying to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program in exchange for economic and political incentives. But if Tehran resumes enrichment-related work, it will probably mean Iran’s case will be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, diplomats said.

Senior Iranian envoy Sirous Nasseri declined to discuss the contents of the letter he took to Vienna. Diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said they expected that it contained formal notification that Iran was resuming conversion of uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride, a substance that can be used to produce weapons-grade uranium.

The United States says Iran wants to make bombs, but Tehran insists that it is interested only in energy. Given other nations’ reluctance to take the case to the Security Council, Washington has reluctantly backed the European diplomatic efforts.

The on-off talks began last year. The Europeans insist that Iran scrap, or at least agree to a long-term suspension of, uranium enrichment, and Tehran insists that its freeze in activities was voluntary and short-term. The last formal round of talks ended inconclusively April 29.