UNITED NATIONS – No response to Iran’s latest moves to develop its nuclear capability is expected at the Security Council in the short term, American ambassador John Bolton said yesterday. Maintaining unity among the five veto-yielding council members is considered more important than addressing Tehran’s “serious” decision to resume uranium enrichment, and its delay in negotiations with Russia, several council diplomats told The New York Sun yesterday.

A European diplomat, who asked not to be named, acknowledged that in diplomatic cables yesterday the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed to European negotiators that inspectors in Iran’s Natanz plant observed scientists as they began putting UF6 gas into centrifuges – the first step in enrichment meant to turn raw uranium into nuclear fuel.

Earlier, the Iranian news agency IRNA quoted international negotiator Javad Vaeidi as saying at a seminar dubbed “Nuclear Knowhow: Today’s Strategy, Tomorrow’s Need,” that Tehran has “resumed nuclear work” in Natanz. Iran also announced the indefinite postponement of talks in Moscow, originally scheduled to begin tomorrow THU, on a proposal to enrich uranium on Russian soil.

“There is no action planned at the moment, pursuant to the agreement reached by the permanent five foreign ministers,” Mr. John Bolton told the Sun yesterday, referring to last month’s pact among Russia, China, France, Britain, and America to delay any Security Council action until after March 6, when IAEA chief Mohammed el-Baradei is expected to report on Iranian cooperation.

Calling Iran’s decision to resume enrichment a “serious matter,” Mr. Bolton added that the immediate response to Iran, if any, is expected from individual countries rather than in formal council resolutions or statements. In Moscow, President Putin and French Prime Minister de Villepin, who is visiting the Russian capital, issued a joint statement urging Iran to “fully comply” with last month’s IAEA resolution.

Last week, a senior European diplomat highlighted the postponed Moscow meeting in a background press briefing, saying it was important because in it Iranian negotiators were expected to signal their approach to the key Russian proposal on enrichment outside of Iran. After yesterday’s announcement, European diplomats said they were disappointed, but that nevertheless Iran’s postponement was not enough to change the current strategy.

“The most important thing is to keep the P-5 unified,” one European diplomat said, referring to the five veto-yielding members of the council. Above all, it was important to maintain the cooperation of Russia and China, both of which have signaled opposition to any serious punishment of Iran, the diplomat said.

Iran watchers suspect the mullahs who run Iran hope to destroy the unity displayed last month in the IAEA board vote by raising the stakes now in order, perhaps, to lower them later. “Iran is playing brinkmanship,” said the president of the Middle East Data Project, Keneth Timmerman, adding they might retract hard-line positions to appear conciliatory just prior to the March council meetings. “They’ve used that tactic before, indicating interest in proposals they have rejected for ten years.”

Iranian hardliners are wary of Russia, according to Israel Radio’s Farsi broadcaster, Menashe Amir. He cited a recent editorial in Jomhouri e-Eslami, saying, “Past experience shows that the Russians should not be trusted. They look out for their own interests, not Iran’s.” Mr. Amir added that the newspaper represents the thinking of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who calls the shots on nuclear issues.