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THESE are particularly edgy times for anyone concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons. On Sunday August 7th, the latest round of six-country talks over North Korea’s nuclear programme ended in deadlock. The next day, Iran formally rejected a package of political and economic incentives from Europe that was designed to put a stop to its suspected nuclear-weapons programme, and resumed work at its uranium-conversion plant near Isfahan. While the North Korean negotiations are due to restart in three weeks, it looks like the talking may be over, for now, between Iran and the three European countries—France, Britain and Germany—that have been trying to coax the Islamic Republic away from the bomb.

The announcement that Iran was once again working on uranium came from Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organisation. This work, he said, had resumed under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. Earlier on Monday, IAEA inspectors had arrived at the plant to check surveillance equipment and oversee the removal of seals, which had been put in place when all of Iran’s nuclear-fuel work was suspended late last year, following talks in Paris with the Europeans. A reporter from Reuters news agency, who witnessed the restarting of operations at Isfahan, said that the plant had earlier been surrounded by dozens of anti-aircraft batteries.

This was not the only bad news for those hoping to