IRAN: Iran has thrown down the gauntlet to the West, telling UN nuclear inspectors it is breaking UN seals at a nuclear plant to resume part of its uranium-enrichment programme in breach of a pact with the EU.
The enrichment programme could be used to arm nuclear warheads.
Last night Iran said UN nuclear inspectors had begun installing surveillance equipment at a sensitive nuclear plant near the central city of Isfahan.
In a high-risk move that could shatter two years of negotiations with the EU, trigger an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna and see Tehran referred for penalties to the UN Security Council, Iran delivered a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the seals at a uranium conversion plant near the town of Isfahan would be removed to start turning raw uranium into a gaseous form that can then be processed into nuclear fuel.
The move comes on the eve of the inauguration of a new president, reputed hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose unexpected election is a cause for concern in the EU and Washington.
Under a deal last November with Britain, France and Germany - negotiating with Iran on behalf of the EU and with US backing - Tehran pledged to freeze all uranium-enrichment activities pending the outcome of talks.
Later this week the EU troika is to present detailed proposals offering Iran security and military guarantees against attack as well as trade benefits and supplies of technology and nuclear fuel for a civil nuclear programme provided Iran forfeits its right to enrich uranium.
It was unclear why Tehran opted to jeopardise the potential breakthrough at the last minute.
Yesterday's calculated escalation of the dispute alarmed Western diplomats and left the Europeans scrambling to decide whether to break off almost two years of talks with Iran.
"It will be very difficult not to respond to this," said a European diplomat.
Another diplomat following the negotiations said: "It's part of the normal pattern of Iranian behaviour, stretch things out and then pull back at the last minute."
The angry letter to the IAEA from the Iranians accused the EU of orchestrating "prolonged and fruitless" negotiations, and said the EU offer to be tabled this week would be "totally unacceptable". - (Guardian service)