http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1248785,00.htmlIran to resume nuclear programme
Announcement delivers blow to EU's policy of engagement
Ian Traynor
Monday June 28, 2004
The Guardian
Iran is to resume elements of its uranium enrichment programme tomorrow in a move which worsens the confrontation with the west over Tehran's suspected ambition to develop a nuclear bomb.
Withdrawing from previous pledges to freeze all uranium-enrichment activities, Tehran said yesterday it would resume manufacturing parts for centrifuges tomorrow and would also restart the assembly of the centrifuges, the machines that refine crude uranium into bomb-grade material or nuclear fuel for power stations.
Iran's decision was criticised yesterday by the EU, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and the White House. It will fuel further suspicions about Iran's nuclear programme and increase mistrust at the IAEA, whose 35-strong governing board regularly seeks to come up with a policy towards Iran.
The announcement was a blow to Britain, France and Germany which reached the Tehran Agreement last October, an accord under which Iran promised to freeze its enrichment activity.
Iran's decision reflects anger at the EU troika who co-authored a recent censure of Tehran at the IAEA. Trying to close down the enrichment programme has been the central plank of the EU's strategy for the past year. Enriching uranium and developing the technology required are key steps in making a nuclear bomb. <snip>