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Iran Continues Uranium Work

Iran began converting a new batch of uranium at a key nuclear facility yesterday, rejecting international pleas to suspend such work and dismissing a new offer - sponsored by Russia - that was designed to ease tensions over the country`s nuclear ambitions, U.S. and European officials said. Iran has said the program was designed to produce nuclear energy, not bombs. But the scale of the program and its clandestine nature have fueled suspicions that Tehran is using it to conceal a weapons effort.

The work at the facility in the town of Isfahan does not bring Iran significantly closer to nuclear capability. But the decision to convert additional uranium - a key ingredient for fueling nuclear energy or weapons programs - was seen as a provocative move just days after Iranian officials reacted coolly to the Russian offer. One of the key countries that has so far resisted sending Iran`s case to the Security Council is Russia, which has a close economic partnership with Tehran and helped build one of the country`s larger nuclear power reactors.

Coming at a sensitive time, the Iranian moves threatened to derail efforts to set up a meeting next week between European and Iranian officials that was meant to reinvigorate negotiations on hold since the summer, diplomats said. Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is leading an investigation of Iran`s nuclear program, also canceled a planned trip to Tehran, said officials in Vienna, where the agency is based.