Kharrazi pointed out in a statement Sunday that the EU's proposals ignore the Islamic Republic's "sovereign right" to engage in uranium enrichment activities and to master the full nuclear fuel cycle. He also criticized the European negotiators for their failure to mention Tehran's willingness to provide evidence that its nuclear program is absolutely peaceful.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday that Iran would submit a detailed response to the EU Big Three's proposals "before tomorrow."
Kharrazi insisted that Iran's legitimate right to develop "peaceful nuclear technologies" should be respected. He announced the resumption of uranium conversion at the nuclear plant in Isfahan, while at the same time expressing willingness to continue negotiations with the EU.
Local experts say the EU Big Three's next step will be to convene an emergency session of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors and use it to pressurize Iran out of resuming uranium-enrichment activities at Isfahan. The session, tentatively set for August 10, may go as far as penalizing Iran with sanctions.
Officials in Tehran maintain that the restart of the Isfahan plant does not mean Iran is withdrawing from the self-imposed moratorium on uranium enrichment as the facility covers only the initial stage of this process-the conversion of uranium ore into gas. But they say that if the IAEA governing board decides to impose anti-Iranian sanctions, they may respond by resuming the full uranium-enrichment cycle at another nuclear facility, Natanz.
