UNITED NATIONS - Iran and the European Union should continue talking and Tehran should not move unilaterally to resume uranium enrichment activities, UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday.
"I hope that both parties will continue to talk," ElBaradei told reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation conference at the United Nations.
"I would hope that the Iranians will not take any unilateral decisions to initiate any activities that now are currently suspended. I think that any future move has to be agreed between both parties," ElBaradei said.
A resumption of enrichment activities would lead to an end of its nuclear talks with the EU, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Monday.
"This would lead to a collapse of the talks," Fischer told reporters. "It is the foundation of the talks that the uranium enrichment remains suspended."
Iran is unhappy with the progress of the talks and may resume uranium conversion activities in defiance of the agreed suspension of nuclear fuel cycle work, top negotiator Hassan Rowhani said in Tehran over the weekend.
"It is unlikely that we will resume enrichment, that is to say the activities at Natanz. But some activities at the UCF (Uranium Conversion Facility) at Isfahan could resume next week," Rowhani was quoted as saying.
Uranium conversion involves turning raw uranium into UF6 gas. That gas can be fed into centrifuges that refine out enriched uranium, which can be directed towards making fuel for atomic reactors or the core of a nuclear weapon.
Uranium conversion is covered by a freeze agreed to by Iran in November 2004 under a deal that kick-started a series of talks with Britain, France and Germany aimed at easing international fears that Tehran is seeking the bomb.
ElBaradei said the EU-Iran negotiations were in a "delicate phase -- no question about it," adding that he had been talking with both sides.
05/02/2005 16:59 GMT