TEHRAN, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Iran has warned the European Union it will nuclear activities at a uranium conversion plant in the central city of Isfahan if the European troika of Britain, France and Germany fail to present their proposal by Monday.
The Islamic state has accused the EU3 of breaching the so-called Paris Accord by not meeting an end-of-July deadline on offering a comprehensive proposal to Tehran. The European Union denies there has ever been a deadline.
"Iran's deadline to Europe expires tomorrow," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news conference Sunday.
"Europeans' procrastination will not be acceptable to us. We have prepared a letter and will submit it to the International Atomic Energy Agency ... to inform the body of the resumption of work in Isfahan under the IAEA supervision," he said, adding, Tehran made "every effort to reach an agreement with the Europeans, but they have apparently faced some limitations and cannot fulfill their promises."
Asefi, however, said, "We are ready to continue talks with the Europeans, and extend enrichment suspension, and keep Natanz inactive."
The plant in Isfahan takes processed uranium ore, mined in Iran's central desert, and turns it into uranium hexafluoride gas. The gas can then be transferred to Natanz, a city near Isfahan, where there are underground facilities to enrich uranium. Iranian officials have, nevertheless, said the nuclear fuel work would fall short of actually producing enriched uranium.
Tehran says it ultimately intends to enrich uranium to a low level for use in power stations. Washington says Tehran will take it to weapons-grade for use in warheads.
Iran's warning came as Britain denied the same day there was a deadline for the EU to make an offer for a deal on Iran's nuclear program.
"An exact date hasn't been fixed," said a Foreign Office spokesman in London, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, adding the parties were following only a general guideline of late July or early August.
In a statement issued Sunday, Britain's Foreign Office said the EU3 would deliver proposals to Iran in a week.
"The foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France and the EU High Representative have just written to Iran's chief negotiator on nuclear activities, confirming that full and detailed proposals would be given to Iran in a week's time," it said, but apparently not in time to help break a diplomatic impasse.
That, said Britain, was in line with an agreement made at a meeting in Geneva in May between Iran and the EU3.
Britain called Iran's move in setting a fixed time to restart some nuclear activities an "unnecessary and damaging" step.
"We urge them not to take any unilateral step which would contravene the Paris agreement as that would make it very difficult to continue with the ... negotiations," added the Foreign Office.
"Should the Iranians persist, we will as a first step consult urgently with our partners on the board of the IAEA," it said.
The EU said last Tuesday the package would probably be presented in the first week of the month after conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes over the presidency Aug. 3. But Iranian officials have maintained there will be no changes in the country's nuclear program once Ahmadinejad replaces moderate cleric Mohammad Khatami.
Ahmadinejad said earlier this month Iran was faithful to its international obligations in nuclear matters "but we will not allow the Iranian people to be deprived of their rights" to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Observers, on the other hand, are uncertain what effect a new president will have on the dispute but suggest nuclear negotiators take their orders directly from Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all key state issues.
On Wednesday, Khatami said Iran would never give up its legitimate right to develop peaceful nuclear technology and create a full nuclear cycle. He added Iran's voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment was temporary.
Khatami was referring to the agreements reached between the parties last November and May by which Iran agreed to suspend all enrichment-related activities while negotiations were under way. The president said his country would continue to work with the IAEA and the EU3 and he was sure simple and logical solutions could be found if U.S. pressure did not prevail.
The EU trio has traditionally encouraged Tehran to end all work on nuclear fuel in return for incentives in the nuclear, economic and security fields.
On Thursday, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, echoed those comments, but stressed Iran would hold off restarting enrichment.
"Enrichment is not currently on the agenda. What we are talking about is Isfahan and not Natanz," he said.
However, Khatami reiterated Iran could not wait forever to restart Natanz.
"We will certainly start uranium enrichment one day as well," he said.
European diplomats, on the other hand, have warned that Iran could bring negotiations with the EU to an end by resuming even parts of its nuclear program.
"Such a step would be a breach of the Paris agreement, but until any action is taken, there will be no further comments," said a British spokeswoman, quoted in the Financial Times.
Other EU3 officials have also said if Iran breaks this agreement, it is all but certain they will push, along with the United States, which has for years accused Tehran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, to bring the Islamic republic before the U.N. Security Council for possible international sanctions.
Iranian officials have, so far, played down the threat, with Asefi dismissing the act as illegal and saying the Europeans will suffer more losses if the dossier is referred to the council.
One ambiguity surrounding the dispute may still remain over what is implied when the EU asks Iran to provide "objective guarantees."
In the EU jargon, "objective guarantees" implies Iran has to put a stop to its nuclear enrichment program, and not just suspend it. Iranian officials, however, do not seem to be in tune with their European counterparts.
"Iran is waiting for the EU3 proposal. We have suspended enrichment activities voluntarily to prove our goodwill and want the Europeans to clarify their intention behind 'objective guarantees,'" Iranian Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel told an open session of parliament on Sunday.
He also talked of the unanimity in the country in support of developing nuclear technology.
"All political groups and currents in Iran unanimously believe that it is an inalienable right of the country to enjoy peaceful nuclear technology and that no one is allowed to deprive Iran of this right," Haddad Adel said.
Political observers familiar with the decision-making structure in Iran say the nuclear issue has become a "redline" that cannot be crossed by anyone in the Islamic establishment.
In a fiery speech in parliament Sunday, one conservative legislator compared the importance of the issue with the "independence of the country."
The EU3 is making a last-ditch attempt to convince Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment for good, while Tehran argues it is the sovereign right of all signatories of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Tehran, furthermore, insists it has pursued a policy of taking confidence-building measures, but the Europeans "have exploited Iran's goodwill gestures."
