Iran resumes atom enrichment work

Iran has resumed some uranium enrichment work, geared to making fuel for nuclear reactors or bombs, in defiance of a vote to engage the UN Security Council in efforts to rein in Tehran's atomic ambitions, diplomats said.

Iran said earlier yesterday that it would restart enrichment, voluntarily suspended for two years while it was in talks with European Union powers which collapsed last month, by early March but gave no date.

Tehran also announced it had put off talks due this week on a Russian proposal to avert a Security Council showdown by enriching Iranian uranium on its soil to prevent shadowy diversions to weapons-making. However, Moscow said it was prepared to go ahead with the talks on Thursday as planned.

Diplomats in missions dealing with the UN nuclear watchdog agency in Vienna said that Iran had resumed some uranium purification activity at its Natanz plant late on Sunday.

An official in the Iranian capital would only say that "Iran was supposed to resume uranium enrichment on Sunday or Monday", without confirming whether the process had started.

If confirmed, Iran's move would signal a determination to overcome any action to restrain its nuclear project after a February 4 vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Tehran to the Security Council, which could consider sanctions.

Iran retaliated for the decision by IAEA's 35-nation board of governors by halting short-notice IAEA inspections, a crucial tool in inquiries to assess whether Iran's nuclear programme is wholly peaceful or not, and vowing to enrich uranium once again.