Iran Says to Make Atomic Fuel if Sent to UN Council

Paul Hughes, Reuters:

Iran warned on Saturday it would return to making nuclear fuel and that the Middle East would get even more unstable if the Islamic Republic was sent to the U.N. Security Council over its atomic program.

Washington is seeking to haul Iran before the council for possible sanctions, arguing that Tehran is making fuel for atomic warheads. Iran insists it intends to use enriched uranium only in power stations.

"If the Americans succeed in referring Iran's case to the Security Council, Iran will immediately suspend all its voluntary confidence-building measures," Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani told a conference. ... read more

"Parliamentarians may even come up with a harder decision," Rohani added.

Many conservative parliamentarians have called for Iran to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In the shorter term they have threatened that Iran will not ratify the Additional Protocol to the NPT, which permits snap U.N. inspections of nuclear sites. ...

But Rohani still held out hope that talks with Europeans could pay dividends.

"If there is no U.S. pressure, we believe that in the near future we will reach an agreement in our talks with the Europeans because we feel the European do not want to deprive us of our legitimate rights," he said.

Iran-EU talks continue in Geneva next week, according to diplomats.