Iran to go ahead with nuke act suspension

"The suspension will begin tomorrow. We have said that we will suspend our enrichment activities and we will do it," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

Iran agreed a week ago in a deal with Britain, France and Germany to suspend as of Monday all its uranium enrichment activities, including making uranium gas, as a confidence-building measure in order to avoid being taken to the UN Security Council.

But diplomats have said that Iran was continuing to produce the uranium feedstuff that is the first step in the enrichment process, only days before Monday's ban.

In addition, US President George W. Bush sharply warned Iran on Saturday about reports that the Islamic republic has accelerated production of UF6 and said it was a "very serious matter".

"The news about the production of UF6 ahead of the suspension is just a part of the propaganda to weaken relations between Iran and the (International Atomic Energy) Agency and the work on building trust with the Europeans," Asefi said.

"What we have been doing over the past few days conforms with the Paris accord and has been carried out under the supervision of the agency."

This week the IAEA will be verifying Iran's enrichment suspension. Diplomats in Vienna said adhering to the suspension will be a key test for Iran.