Teheran threatens to restart full-scale enrichment
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iran will immediately retaliate if referred to the U.N. Security Council next week by forging ahead with developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program, Teheran's senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday.
The comments by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh reflected Iran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure on the Islamic republic to renounce plans for enrichment - which can be used in electricity production but is also a necessary step in making nuclear weapons - in exchange for avoiding Security Council action.
Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment Jan. 10 and announced it would restart experiments, including what it described as small-scale enrichment - a move that led key European countries to call for an emergency IAEA board of governors session Feb. 2.