No going back on N-decision: Iran

Iran said on Tuesday there was no going back on its decision to restart nuclear fuel work, a move EU leaders said would torpedo negotiations...

Iran said on Tuesday there was no going back on its decision to restart nuclear fuel work, a move EU leaders said would torpedo negotiations on Iran’s atomic ambitions and spark an international crisis.

‘‘I think this Iranian affair is very serious and that it could be the start of a major crisis,’’ French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters in Paris.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Tuesday Iran’s decision to resume its nuclear activities was threatening and urged Tehran to change course.

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‘‘The political decision has been taken…. The resumption is irreversible,’’ Supreme National Security Council spokesman Ali Agha Mohammadi said. But he did not say the Iranians had actually broken the seals placed at the plant by UN inspectors—which would be a more decisive defiance of the international community.

Iranian officials said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors began work at a uranium conversion plant near the central city of Isfahan on Monday in preparation for Iran to begin its nuclear activities there.

‘‘The IAEA will finish the installation of surveillance equipment in the next 24 hours and we will restart the plant’s activities in the next one or two days,’’ Mohammad Saeedi said. But the IAEA said preparations could not be made that soon.

A new US Intelligence review estimates Iran is about 10 years away from having the ability to build a nuclear bomb, The Washington Post said on Tuesday.

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Russia will maintain support for Iran’s nuclear programme despite Tehran’s decision to restart the enrichment of uranium, Russian news agencies quoted sources in Russia’s atomic agency, Rosatom, as saying on Tuesday. —Reuters

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