IRAN - May 15 - Parliament Votes To Restart Atomic Activity.

The Parliament adopts a nonbinding resolution insisting that the government resume developing enough nuclear fuel to generate a significant amount of electricity, defying the American and European demand that the Islamic Republic halt all nuclear activity because they believe Iran seeks to build a nuclear bomb. The resolution from a Parliament dominated by hard-liners increases the pressure on the government not to compromise during high-level talks scheduled for next week between Iran and the FMs of Britain, France and Germany to try to break the deadlock over the issue. The senior nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani, announced that Iran would not immediately carry out its vow to resume some aspects of processing uranium. But he warned in an interview on state TV negotiations on the issue could not drag on without Iran resuming some fuel activity, although he did not specify exactly what that might entail. A senior theologian on the National Security Council Rowhani said: We cannot continue the negotiations with the Europeans without having resumed some of our activities". He added that Iran's declaration that it would resume converting uranium ore to the gas used in the first stage of enrichment "remained valid". The European states negotiating with Tehran warned last week that if Iran resumed any stage in the cycle of fuel enrichment, including any introductory stages, they would sever talks and refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions. The Europeans convinced Iran to suspend uranium enrichment last November, before negotiations started, but the Iranians did not fully comply until February. At low levels, uranium enrichment provides the fuel for electricity, but at higher levels of enrichment can be used for nuclear bombs. Rowhani said Iran was waiting to restart the enrichment process because of appeals that they not abandon the negotiations. Those appeals came from the EU, Russia, Japan and the UN Sec Gen Kofi Annan. Rowhani said: We are in favor of negotiations; we can negotiate for months, but we cannot negotiate under the present conditions. The fact that the resumption of our activities will be delayed by several days is not a problem". The FM Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, told reporters at his weekly briefing the suspension of all fuel activity could last another 10 days. Asefi said: The coming days will be the last chance for the Europeans. With or without an agreement, we will restart our activities". Given Iran's previous history of hiding significant portions of its enrichment activity, the EU has demanded that Iran prove its peaceful aims by permanently suspending all domestic production and importing whatever fuel is needed to produce electricity. In return, the Europeans are offering a package of economic incentives of the kind similar to those that convinced Libya to abandon its clandestine arms program. The idea of developing nuclear fuel from the uranium ore deposits in Iran's central desert has become an issue of national pride for Iranians. They insist they only want to master the complete cycle of creating nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, a right of all nations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. No government branch or candidate in the upcoming June 17 elections wants to appear soft on the nuclear issue. "Do we have to beg the world to provide us with fuel"? thundered Kazem Jalali, a member of Parliament who spoke in favor of the resolution demanding that Iran develop its own nuclear fuel. "We have not been able to master nuclear technology in the past several years, and this shows the international community has prevented us from having it". The debate, broadcast live on the radio, was short, about 20 minutes. Then the resolution passed, with 188 of 205 members voting for it. The resolution specified that Iran should develop enough nuclear fuel to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity. That goes far beyond the government plan to develop 7,000 megawatts in the next 15 years. The Bushehr nuclear reactor, a 1,000 megawatt plant being built with Russian help, is due to come onstream next year. Iranian officials say that since their nation has been treated as an international pariah, it must be able to produce its own fuel, because any future boycott might cripple the nation's planned nuclear reactors, even as Iran's population increases and electricity demand surges. "We need security of supply", said Ali Salehi, a professor at Sharif University of Technology and one of Iran's leading nuclear experts. "We would like to get energy from all possible sources". The hard-line newspaper Jomhuri Islami weighed in with a front-page editorial on May 15 suggesting that any presidential candidate who was against the development of nuclear technology was not fit to serve. Even the reformist bloc, generally the most publicly open to seeking to improve Iran's international ties, comes down heavily on the side of developing nuclear power. "There is no reason not to create nuclear energy and to use it in a peaceful way", Mostafa Moin, the anointed reformist candidate and a close political ally of Pres Mohammad Khatami, said in an interview, noting that Iran's population has doubled to more than 70m people since it first started talking about developing nuclear energy with American support before the 1979 revolution. "Why can't we exploit this energy at a time when the population has doubled and we have the scientific ability to develop it".