Iran recently announced its intention to resume research work at its Natanz nuclear facility, prompting the European Union to break off talks over Iran’s atomic programme. The EU and US now say they want the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency to use its February board meeting to send Iran’s case to the UN Security Council for possible punitive action. The following is a transcript of an interview with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Farsi, at the SNSC offices in Tehran on January 22, 2006

Financial Times: Has the actual nuclear research work at Natanz started? Are the centrifuges [devices used to enrich uranium] working?