Iran snubs pleas, resumes uranium shift

WASHINGTON -- Iran yesterday ignored international pleas and resumed the process of converting uranium into nuclear fuel, prompting the United States to begin immediate discussions with key European allies to seek possible United Nations sanctions.

The State Department condemned the move and accused the Islamic republic of ''thumbing its nose" at the European Union trio of Germany, France, and England that has tried to persuade it to limit its nuclear program. The talks broke up Saturday after Iran rejected EU offers of trade incentives in exchange for a suspension of all nuclear work that could be used to build weapons.

''In rejecting the EU-3 offer and taking this step, this is Iran thumbing its nose at a productive approach by the EU-3," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters. ''We'll have to work together to take a response."

Tehran's nuclear brinkmanship put it on a new collision course with the Bush administration, which accuses Iran of supporting terrorism and secretly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program. Tehran maintains that its nuclear work is for purely nonmilitary purposes, but has been found in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty -- or NPT -- by shielding aspects of its nuclear work from international inspectors.

''By resuming its uranium conversion program, Iran is choosing to escalate tensions over its nuclear program," said Leonor Tomero, a specialist at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington. He warned that Iran's resumption of uranium conversion could test the viability of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The Bush administration has repeatedly threatened to refer the issue to the United Nations Security Council, which can levy diplomatic and economic sanctions, if Iran restarted the process for converting uranium. Iran agreed to suspend the work last November in talks with the European trio in Paris.

''I think our position on referral is well known," Ereli said yesterday, suggesting that the United States will now call on the International Atomic Energy Agency to take the matter before the 15-member Security Council.

The new crisis was sparked after work restarted at the uranium conversion facility in the city of Isfahan. The IAEA, in a statement from its headquarters in Vienna, reported that ''Iran today started to feed uranium ore concentrate [UOC] into the first part of the process line at the Uranium Conversion Facility [UCF]."

But the agency, whose board of governors will meet today to discuss the crisis in an emergency session, contended that the Iranians restarted the work so quickly that it did not have enough time to test new monitoring equipment that had just been installed.

''This activity was commenced following the installation today by the IAEA of cameras covering the input stage of the UOC process line, but regrettably prior to completion of the in situ testing of the cameras, which normally takes 24 hours following installation," the statement said. At the facility, uranium ore, or yellowcake, is converted into gas. In a later step toward producing weapons-grade uranium, the gas can be enriched through the use of gas centrifuges.

The move was widely condemned. Iran's move has created a ''grave crisis" that requires a united response from the international community, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy of France said in Paris. ''The international community will react and will decide the response to give," he said in an interview with a French news service, Agence France Presse. ''I hope it will be united in the face of this grave crisis deliberately provoked by Iran."

The French government said it received a letter from Tehran that Douste-Blazy described as ''particularly alarming" and ''contrary to the spirit of the negotiations we have held with Iran over the past two years."

''I call on Iran to listen to the voice of reason and to return to fully respecting the Paris accord, Douste-Blazy said, referring to the agreement in which Iran agreed to suspend its nuclear activities.

Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.