Iran postpones nuclear talks with Russia

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran notched up the brinksmanship over its disputed nuclear program Monday, abruptly postponing talks with Moscow on a plan to enrich Tehran's uranium on Russian territory to allay fears it is building an atomic weapon.

Diplomats in Europe said Iran had started small-scale enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce fuel for an atomic bomb.

"Uranium gas has been fed into three machines," said a senior diplomat in Vienna, Austria, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter. Another diplomat confirmed that limited enrichment had begun at Iran's Natanz site.

State-run Iranian television later reported that Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the national security and foreign relations committee in parliament, said the country had begun peaceful nuclear enrichment activities Monday. Boroujerdi said inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency were present.

A new poll has found that a majority of Americans said the United States should take diplomatic action to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Americans also fear the United States will be too quick to resort to a military attack, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found.

Sixty-eight percent of the adults surveyed said the United States should use economic and diplomatic efforts to get Iran to shut down its nuclear program, compared with 9 percent who said the United States should take military action now, the poll found.

If diplomacy fails, 49 percent of the respondents said the United States should still refrain from immediate military action, compared with 40 percent who said the United States should go to war. The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted from Feb. 9 to 12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The Iranian talks with Russia had been slated for Thursday but were postponed indefinitely because of the "new situation," said Iranian presidential spokesman Gholamhossein Elham. He was referring to the IAEA's decision this month to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council because of uncertainty over its nuclear intentions.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is designed solely to generate electricity, but the United States and some U.S. allies claim the program is a cover for producing an atomic bomb.

Moscow had proposed that Iran ship its uranium to Russia, where it would be enriched to a level suitable for nuclear reactors. It would then be returned to Iran for use at the Russian-built Bushehr plant, which is due to begin operating this year.