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Iran's new conservative-controlled parliament is considering pushing through a bill that would force the Islamic regime to resume uranium enrichment activities, a senior deputy told AFP Thursday. The proposed bill, still under discussion, would scrap a deal signed here last October with Britain, France and Germany under which Iran agreed to make several "confidence-building" gestures to the UN nuclear watchdog. "There are preliminary talks among the MPs," said Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the Majlis national security and foreign policy committee. "It has not yet been approved in the committee, but there are talks to end the voluntary suspension," he said. Depending on its purity, enriched uranium can be used as both fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor and for a nuclear bomb. Iran, however, insists it is only interested in generating electricity. The three European states, on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had urged Iran to stop enriching pending the completion of a UN probe into Iran's nuclear activities, seen by the US as a cover for weapons development. Although nuclear fuel cycle work for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, is permitted under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the IAEA sees Iran as a special case given its past concealment of its programme. The probe has yet to be completed, and a resumption of enrichment would be certain to provoke a major crisis with the IAEA. After being slapped with criticism from the IAEA in June, Iran has already announced it will resume making centrifuges, sparking fresh alarm at the IAEA. Some conservative MPs -- who seized parliament from reformists after most moderate candidates were barred from contesting February's elections -- have even gone as far as to call for a pull-out from the NPT. However, analysts say it is difficult to see the moves of the new Majlis as anything other than angry posturing toward the IAEA, given that the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami appears to be out of the loop on nuclear policy. Relations with the IAEA have been decided upon by top conservatives, notably national security chief Hassan Rowhani -- a cleric close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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