Iran restarts uranium conversion facility

"The uranium conversion facility in Isfahan has started its activities under IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) supervision," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told reporters at the plant.

Iran agreed to suspend all nuclear fuel work last November as part of a deal with the European Union while both sides explored a long-term arrangement for Iran's nuclear programme.

But Tehran has complained about the slow pace of the negotiations and on Saturday rejected an EU proposal offering it economic and political incentives to halt nuclear fuel work for good.

At the Isfahan plant two workers wearing white overalls, face masks and hard hats lifted a barrel full of uranium yellow cake, opened its lid and fed it into the processing line.

Other workers at the plant watched excitedly via closed circuit television screens.

A nuclear scientist at the site, who declined to be named, said: "I am excited, I didn't believe it until the last moment thinking this may not happen, but now I am very happy."

Earlier a Reuters journalist, among a small group of local and foreign reporters invited to visit the plant, said it was surrounded by dozens of anti-aircraft batteries, patrolled by heavy security and surrounded by barbed wire fences.

The plant is in a dry industrial area about 20 km (12.5 miles) southeast of Isfahan.

Iran denies US accusations that its nuclear program is a front for bomb-making. It says it needs to develop nuclear power as an alternative energy source to meet booming electricity demand and preserve its oil and gas reserves for export.