IRAN: The UN nuclear watchdog said yesterday that Iran was flouting international demands and expanding a uranium enrichment programme the West suspects is aimed at nuclear arms production.
The findings in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came on the day nine US warships sailed into the Gulf to demonstrate American impatience with Tehran which it also accuses of backing insurgents in Iraq.
Iran's defiance of another 60-day deadline for it to stop enrichment, set by the UN Security Council when it imposed a second set of sanctions on March 24th, exposes Tehran to tougher penalties.
"Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities. Iran has continued with operation of its pilot fuel enrichment plant and with construction of its [ planned industrial] enrichment plant," said the report.
In response Iran said it remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which the West suspects it is violating by using a declared civilian nuclear programme as a facade for mastering the means to make atom bombs.
"Iran is still loyal to its commitment in carrying out the NPT," Iranian state television quoted chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani as saying.
Iran, which had already said it was expanding uranium enrichment, says it seeks to use nuclear technology only for power generation. Enriched uranium can be used for nuclear power plants or, if refined to a much higher degree, for bombs.
Six world powers stand behind UN Security Council resolutions demanding Iran suspend all nuclear fuel work in exchange for negotiations on trade incentives, with the threat of escalating sanctions if Tehran keeps refusing.
A US White House spokesman called the new IAEA report "a laundry list of Iran's continued defiance of the international community and [ it] shows that Iran's leaders are only furthering the isolation of the Iranian people".
US officials had said the powers would start drafting a third, harsher batch of sanctions if the deadline was flouted.
A spokesman for British prime minister Tony Blair said existing sanctions, which have begun to deter western investment in Iran, had stirred debate there about the wisdom of total defiance. "We believe . . . a process of, if necessary, further tightening those sanctions will deliver further results." But a senior European diplomat at the security council said: "I don't think we'll rush at it." He said he expected the council would await the outcome of high-level exploratory talks on the nuclear issue between the EU and Iran next week.
Washington has sent nine US warships carrying 17,000 personnel into the Gulf, a narrow channel in international waters off Iran's coast and a crucial artery for global oil shipments. Oil rose towards $70 on world markets, partly on news of the force's arrival.
The US navy said the ships, including two aircraft carriers, would conduct exercises under a long-planned effort to reassure local Arab allies of US commitment to Gulf security.
In response, Iran said it would powerfully resist any threat from Washington. The US has said it is committed to a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out military intervention.
However, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said last week the western strategy of denying Iran enrichment capability was obsolete as Iran had already gained it. He said world powers should focus on capping Iran's enrichment short of "industrial scale", a level he feels would pose a minimal risk of yielding atomic bombs.
A senior US official dismissed the proposal, which western experts believe would allow Iran to perfect the technology for enriching uranium.
The IAEA report said Iran had installed 1,640 centrifuges to enrich uranium and was feeding uranium "UF6" gas into some 1,300 of them. This marked progress towards a basis for a nuclear fuel industry after the shift from a research-level programme a few months ago.