Iran urged to resume freeze

The governing board of the UN nuclear watchdog unanimously called on Iran yesterday to halt sensitive atomic work it resumed this week in defiance of the West, a demand Tehran rejected as unacceptable and illegal.

The resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors said Iran must resume full suspension of all nuclear fuel related activities and asked the agency to verify Tehran's compliance.

Iran, which has denied Western accusations that its atomic programme is a front for covert bomb-making, resumed work at its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan on Monday.

"The resolution on Iran was just adopted without a vote by consensus, full consensus. All 35 members of the board agreed the language of the resolution text," IAEA spokesman Melissa Fleming told reporters.

President George W. Bush said the decision of the UN nuclear watchdog was "a positive first step".

"The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) today issued a report that expressed serious concerns about Iranian decisions and that's a positive first step," Mr Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch.

He said the US strategy was to work with the EU-3, "so that the Iranians hear a common voice speaking to them about their nuclear weapons ambitions, and I appreciate the IAEA's positive first step."