The EU joined the United States and Russia today in condemning Iran's announcement it had enriched uranium in defiance of a UN call to halt nuclear work that the West believes is part of a drive to build atomic weapons.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday Iran had enriched uranium for the first time and would press ahead with industrial-scale enrichment, keeping the country on a collision course with the United Nations.
Unnamed Iranian official
In response, the United States said that if Iran continued moving in the "wrong direction" it would discuss the next steps with the UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions.
The European Union said Iran's announcement was "regrettable" but it will continue to press for a diplomatic solution to the dispute.
"We will continue to seek a diplomatic solution, but such announcements are not helpful," said a spokeswomen for Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's commissioner for external relations.
Germany, France and Britain called off over two years of talks on closer ties with Iran after it announced in January that it would resume enrichment work.
The so-called EU3 has made a renewed suspension of all enrichment-related activity a condition for restarting negotiations. Tehran refused, saying enrichment is a sovereign right it will not give up.
Moscow, which has opposed using such measures against Iran, echoed the US demand that Tehran halt enrichment activities.
"It goes counter to the decisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the statement of the UN Security Council," Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying of Iran's announcement. He urged Iran to stop all uranium enrichment work, including research, but a senior Iranian official rejected this.
"Iran's nuclear activities are like a waterfall which has begun to flow. It cannot be stopped," said the official.
Iran has traditionally regarded Moscow as a key nuclear ally and several officials in Tehran have predicted that Russia would veto any punitive action by the UN Security Council.
The council has told Iran to halt all sensitive atomic activities and on March 29th it asked the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, to report on its compliance in 30 days.
It remains unclear if Russia and China, two of the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council, would drop their opposition to sanctions.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Iran risked forcing the Security Council to consider future action. "If the regime continues to move in the direction that it is currently, then we will be talking about the way forward with the other members of the Security Council and Germany about how to address this going forward," he said.
The US State Department said it was unable to confirm Iran's announcement and some experts said even if Tehran's assertions were accurate, it would still be years before the Islamic Republic was able to produce a nuclear weapon.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to visit Iran tomorrow to seek full Iranian cooperation with the council and IAEA inquiries. Mr Ahmadinejad's proclamation of advances in enrichment work casts an embarrassing cloud over that trip.
Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, has said it will not back down from what it says is a national right to enrich uranium to fuel nuclear power stations. Many Western countries believe Iran is seeking atomic warheads.