VIENNA/UN/TEHRAN/MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog will report to the organization's Security Council Friday on Iran's compliance with the council's demand to suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran faces possible sanctions if it is found in breach of its international commitments on nuclear energy, as the deadline for Tehran to meet Security Council demands to halt enrichment expires Friday.
The Security Council adopted a resolution on Iran in late March, calling on the country to reimpose a moratorium on the enrichment of uranium, which can be used as fuel for nuclear power plants and for weapons production, and to allow further UN inspections of its nuclear sites.
Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was instructed to look into Tehran's compliance and make a report in 30 days.
Tehran has continued enrichment it started earlier this year, insisting it seeks energy, not weapons, and said it will sever ties with the IAEA in the event of a critical report.
"We have mastered the technology of nuclear fuel production, and no one can take this right away from the Iranian nation," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday.
The United States, France, and Britain are pushing economic sanctions against defiant Tehran. Russia and China, the other permanent veto-holding members of the Security Council, have opposed sanctions.
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the IAEA should play the main role in efforts to ease the long-running crisis.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency plays ... a key role. It should not put these problems off and shift them onto the shoulders of the UN Security Council," he said.
