Outcry as Iran Resumes Its Nuclear Project
    By Simon Freeman
    The Times UK

    Monday 09 January 2006

    Tehran moved a step closer to economic and diplomatic sanctions today as Iranian scientists returned to their labs to resume forbidden research into nuclear power.

    The provocative move follows the collapse yesterday of talks with Russia aimed at seeking a compromise over Iran's suspended nuclear enrichment programme, a key phase in both civilian fuel production and in the generation of weapons-grade uranium.

    French, German and British diplomats have given warning that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is intent on scuppering the resumption of negotiations to resolve the crisis.

    Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel prize-winning boss of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Authority), said that the decision to remove UN seals and resume research in the face of international criticism was "regrettable".

    Hamid Reza Asefi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, today told a news conference: "We will remove the seals and we have announced that we are ready to start research from tomorrow."

    Western observers are convinced that Iran uses its civilian atomic energy project as cover for a nuclear weapons programme. The belligerent Mr Ahmadinejad - who last week publicly willed the early death of Ariel Sharon - enjoys some support at home for defending what he describes as Iran's right to produce its own domestic power.

    Iran resumed production of uranium gas in August. Three months later it announced plans to enrich the gas at a pilot plant in Natanz. Today's move ends a two-year suspension of enrichment activity, the most sensitive step in the fuel cycle.

    Today's announcement has pushed Iran another step toward being referred to the UN's Security Council, where despite enjoying tacit support from Russia and China, it is likely to face sanctions.

    Moscow, which has close energy trading links with Tehran, offered a compromise that would allow Iran to carry out enrichment on Russian soil. Talks - described as "detailed, candid and professional" - broke down yesterday although they are to resume next month.

    Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, hinted that Washington was losing patience with European attempts to cajole Mr Ahmadinejad into line.

    "If negotiations have been exhausted, we have the votes, there is a resolution sitting there on the Security Council, we'll vote it," she said.

    Ursula Plassnik, the Austrian Foreign Minister, whose country has just taken over the European Union presidency, said today that Iran was "a very worrying situation indeed". She said today's decision was: "the wrong step in the wrong direction and a cause of very serious concern".
# A military passenger jet crashed in north-west Iran on Monday, killing the commander of the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards and other senior officers.

    The Falcon was making an emergency landing in bad weather in Oroumieh, a mountainous region 560 miles (900km) northwest of Tehran, when its landing gear apparently jammed at 9.30 am (0600 GMT) .

    It is the second such crash in less than a month. The death of an ally and friend is likely to further provoke the President, who has blamed previous military air crashes on a US trade embargo which prevents Iran from buying parts for its decrepit US-built aircraft.

    General Ahmad Kazemi, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war who was appointed commander of the Guards' ground forces by President Ahmadinejad in August, and eight officers died as well as the two crew.

    The official Islamic Republic News Agency later identified another of those killed as Brigadier General Ghasem Soleimani, the commander of the Jerusalem Force, an anti-terrorism unit based in border areas.