Iran Defies Nuke Watchdog

Defying a key demand set by 35 nations, Iran announced Tuesday that it has started converting raw uranium into the gas needed for enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons.

"Tests are going on successfully" to make uranium hexafluoride gas, said Iranian Vice President Reza Aghazadeh.

Of the more than 40 tons of raw uranium being mined for conversion, "some ... has been used," he told reporters.

His comments, made outside the general conference of the 137-nation International Atomic Energy Agency, were the latest sign that Iran was ignoring demands made during the weekend by the agency's board of governors to suspend all enrichment and related activities and to assuage international fears the technology could create weapons-grade uranium for warheads.

In a veiled threat, meanwhile, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said his country was determined to exercise its right to enrichment as part of "peaceful nuclear technology" — even at the risk of severing ties with the IAEA, thereby removing all international oversight.

"We will continue along our path even if it leads to an end to international supervision" of Iran's nuclear activities, Khatami said at a military parade in Tehran.

Iran, which insists it needs enrichment to generate power, announced months ago that it had planned to "test" conversion techniques.

But even before Tuesday's announcement, the large scale of the project — involving more than 40 tons of raw uranium — had heightened concerns that Iran was preparing for full uranium conversion at its Isfahan facility that goes beyond laboratory testing.

A resolution passed unanimously Saturday by the IAEA's governing board demanded for the first time that Iran freeze all work on uranium enrichment. It specifically expressed alarm at Iranian plans to convert the raw uranium into hexafluoride.

Suggesting that Iran may have to answer to the U.N. Security Council if it defied the demands, the resolution said the next board meeting, in November, would "decide whether or not further steps are appropriate" in ensuring Iran complies.

Iran's present suspension of enrichment falls short of international demands.

Uranium consists of different types of molecules, called isotopes. Only on type is useful for nuclear fission, the process that makes nuclear plants produce power and nuclear weapons explode.

The different isotopes of uranium have different atomic weights and can be separated by converting the uranium to gas and spinning it rapidly in a centrifuge.

Through this process, scientists can increase the amount of fission-ready molecules within a given sample of uranium.

Tehran says it is honoring a pledge not to put uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges, spin it and make enriched uranium. But the resolution also calls for a halt of related activities, including making, assembling and testing centrifuges, and to producing the uranium hexafluoride.

Iran is not prohibited from enrichment under its obligations to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But for months, it has faced international pressure to suspend such activities as a good-faith gesture. The resolution went further by demanding a stop to enrichment and related activities.

But the resolution also recognized nations' right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy — leaving some wiggle room for the Islamic Republic.

Indicating that Washington could again be blocked in efforts to have Iran hauled before the Security Council in November, Russia's nuclear chief, Alexander Rumyantsev, appeared to side with Tehran on enrichment.

"Iran has the right for the development of its ... peaceful use of nuclear energy," said Rumyantsev, the head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency. He also said Russia's $800 million deal to build a reactor at Bushehr would not be held up because of the board's demands.

The reactor has drawn protests for years from the United States, which fears that it could be used for weapons-making.

Responding to U.S. concerns, Moscow has said it will only provide uranium fuel for the reactor if Iran agrees to return spent fuel for reprocessing, ensuring it couldn't be used in a weapons program. But talks on the repatriation of the fuel have dragged on. Both sides say technical and financial issues are holding up a final deal, but a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA told the AP that "U.S. pressure on Moscow" was preventing agreement.

Aghazadeh said the Bushehr reactor was 80 percent built. "More than 1,000 Russians are working" on its completion, he said, adding that Rumyantsev was scheduled to visit late this year to "finalize" fuel deliveries.

He suggested Iran's course of action remained open between full suspension as demanded by the board and full enrichment, saying Tehran "will decide on the basis of our national interests and not subject to pressures" what to do.

Iran's secretly developed enrichment program — undetected for 18 years until it was revealed almost two years ago — has been the focus of increased international concern because of suspicions Tehran may not be telling the truth when it says it is interested in the technology only to generate power.

In Tuesday editions The New York Times reported a split within the Bush administration over how to handle Iran, with some wanting a hard line similar to that used against Iraq, and others advocating a negotiated approach.

On Monday, the first day of the general conference, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran to heed the board's call for a full freeze of enrichment and linked activities — a message also enforced by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and the European Union.

In Tehran, Khatami repeated that his country was not interested in making nuclear arms.

"We won't go for nuclear weapons not because we fear others, but because of our beliefs and principles, because we oppose nuclear weapons and consider them a threat to humanity," he said.