Iran suspends uranium enrichment to avert UN sanctions

Three days before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discusses Iran's nuclear issue, Tehran suspended its controversial nuclear fuel work, a move likely to thwart US efforts to report the Islamic Republic to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

On Monday, Iran state radio said that the suspension included reprocessing uranium and building centrifuges used to enrich uranium, honoring an agreement with three member states of the European Union (EU) .

In Vienna, the IAEA confirmed the suspension. "I think pretty much everything has come to a halt," said Mohamed EIBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog.

ELBaradei is to present a report on Iran's compliance to the IAEA governing board when it meets here on Thursday and has said his team should be able to verify suspension by then.

However, in Washington, the US State Department refused to accept Iran's word that it had frozen all uranium enrichment work under the agreement with Britain, France and Germany, and stressed that Iran had gone back on earlier similar promises to halt such activity.

Deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the US would wait for a final report from EIBaradei on Iranian compliance before drawing any conclusions.

"This is a situation we've been in before, where Iran has said that it would suspend, and then subsequently went on to renege on those commitments," Ereli told reporters. "So obviously our interest is seeing not what they say, but what they actually do."

Last week, Iran promised with the so-called "EU three" to suspend as of Monday all its uranium enrichment-related activities, including making uranium gas and building centrifuges.

Uranium is enriched to generate atomic power, but when it is highly enriched can be used in a nuclear warhead.

In Belgium on Monday, EU foreign ministers urged Iran to confirm its suspension at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna on Thursday. The board was to focus on closing an examination of nearly two decades of covert unclear activities in Iran.

The US accuses Iran of secretly pursuing nuclear weapons and has pushed the international community to take a hard line. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week that Washington has intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons.

Iran, which insists its program is peaceful, has said that the suspension will be brief, voluntary, and contingent on what Europe does next. Iranian hard-liners have accused the government of sacrificing Iran's rights by agreeing to suspend enrichment.

Under the agreement, reached through negotiations held in Paris with the three EU member countries, a working committee would be formed within weeks to define what economic, technological, security and nuclear cooperation Europe will provide. It will report within three months.

Iran portrays the agreement as European support for what it sees as its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

France, Britain and Germany reportedly circulated a draft resolution at the IAEA on Monday that calls for the agency to notify member states if Tehran resumes enrichment activity.

The draft says that the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog should "report immediately" to the agency's 35-member board of governors should the agency encounter evidence that the suspension is not fully implemented.

It makes no mention of punitive measures should Iran resume activities related to uranium enrichment.

Observers say that Iran's suspension of uranium enrichment is crucial but far from conclusive to the settlement of the nuclear case as uncertainty remains concerning the prospects of the country 's nuclear issue.