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Iran to Resume Nuke Work

Iran told the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Tuesday that it planned to resume nuclear fuel research after a 2 1/2 -year hiatus, issuing a fresh challenge to Western nations concerned that Tehran is trying to build an atomic weapon. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said research would "resume in cooperation and coordination with the IAEA in the next few days."

But the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed Elbaradei, said it was important that the Islamic Republic "maintains its suspension of all enrichment-related activity" as a way of reducing international suspicions about its nuclear plans. Iran has said it remains determined, at some point, to resume uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear weapons.

"Our view is that if Iran takes any further enrichment-related steps, the international community will have to consider additional measures to constrain Iran`s nuclear ambitions," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington, D.C.