AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
TEHRAN: A timeline of the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme:
2002
August: An exiled Iranian opposition group says the country is building secret underground nuclear facilities, notably at Natanz in central Iran.
2003
August: A confidential UN report reveals Iran has developed two kinds of enriched uranium not needed for peaceful energy production.
November: An internal IAEA report states there there is no proof that Iran is creating nuclear weapons, a conclusion the United States dismisses.
2004
September: Tehran resumes work on enriching uranium.
November: Iran agrees to suspend enrichment during talks with Britain, France and Germany.
2005
June: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardline populist, is elected president of Iran. Shortly after he takes office, the country resumes uranium work.
August: Bush makes the first of several statements in which he refuses to rule out the use of force to make Iran give up its nuclear programme.
— Tehran rejects an EU offer of a broad package of incentives aimed at ending the standoff, resumes uranium conversion work.
November: Russia presents a plan, agreed to by the United States, that would allow Iran to continue uranium enrichment but on Russian soil. Talks on the issue fail in February 2006.
2006
January: Iran resumes nuclear research activities.
March: The UN Security Council gives Iran until April 28 to suspend enrichment, but the deadline passes without any change.
April: Iran engages in military maneuvers in the Gulf, including the testing of new missiles which could be used to block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. World oil prices surge on the news.
— Iran says it has enriched uranium to levels needed for reactor fuel.
— Reports in two US newspapers say the Washington is planning military attacks on Iran's atomic facilities which could involve the use of nuclear weapons.
May 31: The United States makes a major policy shift, offering talks on condition that Iran suspend enrichment.
— The Security Council plus Germany present offer Iran a variety of incentives including talks if it agrees to suspend enrichment work.
July 31: A new Security Council resolution gives Iran a month to freeze its enrichment activity or face sanctions.
August 22: Responding to the incentive package, Iran calls for talks without saying whether it would freeze enrichment work.
August 23: Washington says Iran's response “falls short”.
August 26: Ahmadinejad defiantly inaugurates a plant to produce heavy water for use in a new research reactor that would produce enough plutonium for a nuclear bomb every year.
