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VIENNA, Feb 4 (AFP): Iran is to move ahead on full-scale uranium enrichment in retaliation for being brought before the UN Security Council over its disputed nuclear program, a senior Iranian official said Saturday.
"Our government has to implement full-scale enrichment," Javad Vaidi, head of the Iranian delegation to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting told reporters.
Earlier, the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA voted Saturday to send Iran to the UN Security Council over concerns that Tehran is developing atomic weapons, a diplomat said.
But the resolution, passed by 27-3, puts off any UN action against Iran for at least a month, to give time for diplomacy to work before the next meeting in Vienna in March of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei will be filing a detailed report and assessment of the Iranian nuclear program for this March 6 meeting.
The vote at this week's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors was delayed Friday when Egypt insisted on adding a clause implying that Israel should give up its atomic weapons.
The United States said this was a separate issue from the Iranian problem but Egypt pushed for a reference to a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East to be included in the resolution in order to represent Arab concerns over Israel's alleged nuclear weapons capacity, diplomats said.
The United States finally accepted a wording that stressed "weapons of mass destruction" instead of just nuclear arms, as this lifted the exclusive focus on Israel, a diplomat said.
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