TEHRAN - Iran has no plans for the time being to resume uranium enrichment, a senior nuclear official said Monday, following warnings from German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer that any such move would spell the end of talks with the European Union.
"As the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security (Hassan Rowhani) has said previously, our decision does not concern any resumption of enrichment, our discussions concern the uranium conversion facilities in Isfahan," said council spokesman Ali Agha Mohammadi.
"No decision has been taken for the time being," he said.
"I hope the patience and seriousness of the Islamic republic will enable the cleansing of the poisoned atmosphere created by the United States so that we can continue our talks with the European Union."
Fischer's warning had come on the sidelines of an international conference to review the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"It is the foundation of the talks that the uranium enrichment remains suspended," Fischer told reporters. Any resumption would "lead to a collapse of the talks."
The German minister did not specify whether his comments included the preliminary process of uranium conversion -- turning raw uranium into a gas to be fed into centrifuges for enrichment.
Iran agreed to suspend both processes in November last year as a confidence-building measure ahead of its talks with European Union.
Uranium enrichment is allowed under the NPT but the international community has been pressing Iran to give up that right in return for a package of incentives.
05/02/2005 18:05 GMT