The International Atomic Energy Agency strongly encouraged Iran to adopt a more cooperative position with regard to the latest uranium enrichment deal offered the Islamic Republic. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN’s nuclear proliferation-monitoring arm, said that “the ball is very much in Iran’s court,” in a statement that embodied the international community’s recent struggles on the issue. The West is concerned that Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons; Iran maintains that its sole objective is the acquisition of nuclear energy.
The proposal entails the shipment from Iran of low enriched uranium to one of a number of participating states, namely Russia, where it would be refined and returned for use in Tehran’s nuclear reactor. Iran has expressed disapproval at the proposal’s logistics, countering with its own plan whereby it would exchange its uranium for fuel rods directly; this is seen as an attempt to ensure a receipt of fuel-grade nuclear material.
Read more at The BBC.