IRAN would resume industrial-scale uranium enrichment if it were referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear standoff with the West, a senior Iranian official was quoted today as saying.In an interview with the Financial Times, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani urged the European Union to reopen talks which stalled after Tehran broke UN seals on uranium enrichment equipment. "If the negotiating route is open, we prefer to reach a conclusion through talks," Mr Larijani told the newspaper. "But if this route is closed, we are obliged to follow up our other scenario. Everything depends on the way we are treated."
Asked if there was a timescale for uranium enrichment on an industrial scale, he said: "Yes. We have a plan for resumption. "If we are referred to the Security Council, the government is obliged ... to lift all voluntary measures."
Last month, Moscow proposed setting up a joint venture with Iran that would enrich uranium on Russian soil for Iran's planned nuclear reactors. Mr Larijani said no decision had been made on the Russian proposal. "It is one we can study," he told the FT in a report on its website. "This proposal, however, has to be completed. There are some points which should be reconsidered in a more comprehensive plan."