Iran's top nuclear negotiator said that the country hoped to resume its uranium conversion work later yesterday (local time). 

"We hope that the seals on the Isfahan uranium conversion facility can be removed later in the day," Ali Aghamohammadi, the spokesperson for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told reporters.

Aghamohammadi's announcement came soon after new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office.

Teheran announced on Monday that it would resume the activities of the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan in reaction to the EU's failure to present the long-awaited nuclear proposal before the deadline of August 1 set by Iran.

Senior EU, UN and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials have urged Iran not to resume the sensitive nuclear work and to come back to negotiations.

The US and the EU also warned that the resumption would trigger the referral of Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council.

But Iran said it was still willing to continue the negotiations and the resumption did not mean that it breaks its commitments.

The IAEA yesterday repeated its call for a delay.

"We need until the middle of next week to get our surveillance equipment in place before any seals could be cut and nuclear activities started," it said in a statement.

"The agency calls on Iran again not to start any activities in Isfahan before the IAEA inspection system is in place."

The so-called EU3 of Britain, France and Germany has been planning to offer Iran nuclear, political and economic incentives to freeze its nuclear fuel activities indefinitely.

(China Daily August 4, 2005)