UN inspectors arrive at Iran's uranium conversion facility

Inspectors of the UN nuclear watchdogarrived on Monday at a uranium conversion plant near Iran's centralcity of Isfahan to install monitoring equipment before Iran removes the seals and restarts the work there under supervision.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said on Sunday that Iran is determined to restart uranium conversion during this week, adding that Tehran is not worried about European Union'sthreat to refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions if it resumes the suspended nuclear activities.

Iran has said it will break seals on the Isfahan facility and restart the operation to convert uranium ore into gas as soon as the supervising cameras are installed by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors at the Isfahan facility.

Hardline MPs at Iranian parliament have urged new president Mahmud Ahmadinejad to restart the Isfahan facility on Aug. 9 no matter the IAEA send inspectors to the site or not.

The European Union, represented by Britain, France and Germany, offered Tehran a package of incentives to give up its right to enrich uranium on Aug. 5, which was rejected by the latter, saying the proposal did not ensure Iran's legal right to peaceful nuclear technology.

The EU trio has called an emergency meeting of the IAEA board ofgovernors in Vienna on Tuesday to discuss Iran's decision to resumeuranium conversion work, a precursor to enrich uranium gas into fuel for nuclear power reactors.

Iran has said it will continue suspension of uranium enrichment which the West suspects could be used to make atomic bomb but Iran insists is for power generation.

Tehran suspended enrichment related activities last November to pave the way for talks with the EU trio to guarantee its nuclear program would not be diverted to military purposes.

Source: Xinhua