The European Union has submitted a draft resolution to the UN nuclear watchdog's governing board to urge Iran to stop sensitive nuclear activities it resumed this week.
An inside view of a Uranium Conversion Facility producing unit in Isfahan, 340km south of Tehran
Iran said today all the seals at its controversial Isfahan nuclear plant had been removed and the facility is fully operational.
The draft calls on Tehran to immediately resume "full suspension of all (nuclear) enrichment-related activities including the production of feed material", a European diplomat familiar with the text said.
The diplomat said it did not refer Tehran to the UN Security Council. A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that the draft text had been given to the IAEA to be discussed tomorrow but declined to comment on the content.
"A resolution has been tabled and we are notifying the board of a meeting tomorrow at 3pm (1300 GMT)," spokesman Mr Peter Rickwood said.
"The removal of seals has been completed. The plant is fully operational now," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, said.
Iran began breaking the UN seals at the Isfahan uranium processing plant this morning, a step on the road to production of enriched uranium that could be used for nuclear weapons.
The IAEA put on the seals after Tehran agreed with Britain, Germany and France to suspend all nuclear fuel work last November to ease tensions after the IAEA found Iran had hidden weapons-grade highly enriched uranium.
Earlier this week, Iran restarted work at less sensitive, unsealed areas of the plant after rejecting a package of economic and political incentives from the EU3 to give up its nuclear programme. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
IAEA officials agreed Tehran's request to remove the seals after installing surveillance cameras to ensure no uranium is shifted away from the plant for any covert weapons work.
Under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran has signed, Tehran may process and enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. But the EU3 say the only way to prove peaceful intentions is to renounce all sensitive technologies.
The IAEA board convened an emergency meeting yesterday but quickly adjourned to give the trio time to negotiate with other key members of the 35-nation board about the text of the resolution.
One EU diplomat said that the United States, Russia and China and the other Western countries on the IAEA board would all support its toughly-word draft resolution, but developing countries like India, Brazil and others opposed it.