Iran on Tuesday hardened its stance against the efforts of Europe and the US to refer its nuclear programme to the United Nations security council, saying it would respond by resuming uranium enrichment and reconsidering the international inspectors' access to its atomic facilities.

Ali Larijani, Iran's top security official, issued the warning as the US and European Union continued lobbying the meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which is expected to discuss Iran on Wednesday. The EU and US have circulated a draft resolutionto the IAEA's 35-member board calling for referral on the alleged grounds that Iran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.