Tehran, Iran ? Iran has resumed small-scale enrichment of uranium, a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said Tuesday – a defiant declaration in the face of global opposition to Iran’s atomic program.

The resumption still leaves Iran a long way from reaching the stage the world fears most: large-scale enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce fuel for an atomic bomb.

Javad Vaeidi, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in announcing the small-scale enrichment, also told reporters that Iran would resume negotiations with Moscow on Monday over its plan to enrich Iranian uranium on Russian soil – a proposal designed to allay fears that Iran will build nuclear weapons.