TEHRAN, July 27: Iran will resume some key work on its nuclear fuel cycle regardless of what European diplomats propose to defuse a dispute over Tehran’s atomic ambitions, Iran’s president said on Wednesday.

Mohammad Khatami said the nuclear fuel work would fall short of actually producing enriched uranium, which Washington fears Tehran will use in atomic bombs, but stressed that Iran would also ultimately resume its enrichment programme.

“Whether Europeans mention our right to resume activities at the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan or not, we will definitely resume them regardless,” Mr Khatami told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

The plant at the central city of Isfahan takes processed uranium ore, mined in Iran’s central desert, and turns it into uranium hexafluoride gas. This gas can be pumped into centrifuges that spin at supersonic speed to enrich the uranium.

Tehran says it will enrich uranium to a low level for use in power stations. Washington claims Tehran will take it to weapons-grade for use in warheads. In a bid to resolve the dispute, an EU troika of France, Germany and Britain will present proposals to Iran by early August.—Reuters