Iran has begun converting a large amount of uranium ore into gas feedstock needed to enrich uranium,a senior Iranian official said Tuesday.

Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization,told reporters in Vienna that some of the 37 tons of uranium yellowcake which Iran had previously said it would be converting has now been used.

Yellowcake is converted into uranium gas, which is then fed into centrifuges to make enriched uranium. Enriched uranium can beused both as fuel for civilian reactors and as explosive core for atomic bombs.

"The tests have been successful but these tests have to be continued using the rest of the material," said Aghazadeh, one of Iran's vice presidents.

He added that his country has the centrifuge technology in place in order to convert the gas feedstock into enriched uranium if it so decides.

His announcement at a general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) here was the first confirmation that Iran has actually begun large-scale conversion.

Aghazadeh noted that Iran did not recognize the validity of the IAEA demand for Tehran to halt uranium enrichment, as enrichment is allowed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

He said Iran would decide, "based on our national interest," what it would do about enrichment.

But it was "possible" that Iran would honor the IAEA demand as a gesture to help persuade the IAEA to drop its investigation intoTehran's nuclear program on Nov. 25, when the IAEA board of governors will be meeting, said Aghazadeh.

He reiterated Iran's position that its suspension of uranium enrichment, agreed on with Britain, France and Germany in October 2003, was "based on a voluntary gesture."

The voluntary nature of the suspension "has been the case and will be the case," he said.

Last Saturday, the IAEA adopted a resolution calling on Iran tosuspend all activities related to uranium enrichment. It set a deadline of Nov. 25 for a definitive review of Iran's nuclear program.

On Sept. 1, Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the IAEA, had already noted in a report submitted to the board of governors that Iran had indicated it would resume large-scale production of uranium gas.

Source: Xinhua