Iran on Wednesday afternoon completely unsealed its uranium conversion plant in the central city of Isfahan and restarted the facilities later, moving closer to producing uranium enrichment material.

The unsealing was announced by head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who declared that the last seals on the uranium conversion facilities had been removed. Aghazadeh's deputy Mohammad Saidi stressed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had previously authorized the removing of seals.

"The (uranium conversion) plant would be in full operation within hours following the unsealing," Saidi added. The removal paved the way for Iran to fully resume its uranium conversion activities, which it started on Monday after IAEA inspectors partially finished installing supervisory equipments in the facilities.

However, the uranium conversion facilities will become productive 15 days later.

"Once the seal is broken, a 15-day interval is required between the final stages of operation at the Isfahan facilities and the production of its final product," an informed official told the official IRNA news agency several hours after the unsealing. The activities in Isfahan facilities are the preparatory step toward uranium enrichment, namely, the process of turning uranium ore nicknamed "yellowcake" to uranium hexafluoride gas, which can be fed into connected centrifuges to yield enriched uranium, the material that can be used to generate electricity or build nuclear weapons.

The latest nuclear dispute came after Tehran rejected a comprehensive nuclear proposal presented by the European trio of Britain, France and Germany, the longtime brokers of the Iranian nuclear issue for nearly two years.

In the proposal, the European trio demanded that Tehran permanently halt uranium enrichment activities it suspended last November in exchange for nuclear fuel supplied by other countries. Iran resumed some work in Isfahan facilities on Monday, a move which touched off stern warnings from the EU.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the resumption of uranium conversion should not be viewed as a move to close the door to negotiations with the EU, voicing Iran's readiness to continue the talks.

At the request of the European trio, the IAEA Board of Governors opened an emergency meeting late Tuesday in Vienna, Austria .However, the emergency meeting was stalled due to disputes over an EU resolution urging Iran to halt resumed activities. A second session of the meeting due on Wednesday was also cancelled. The EU has said that it will seek to refer Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council if Tehran does not withdraw from what the Europeans called a provocative move.

Iranian officials have said repeatedly that Iran was not afraid of the referral, for the EU will lose more in that case. "Energy security in the world is not possible without Iran," Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has warned. "Iran plays a very effective role in world energy security. Today the world is dependent on us," he said, adding Tehran had graciously avoided taking any adventurous approach and had remained committed to international and regional security.

"Iran is in a powerful position in view of its resources, geographical location and scientific capability; it gained access to this technology at a time when it was under sanctions," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2005)