IAEA to Iran: Accept nuclear proposal

[Chris]

IAEA to Iran: Accept nuclear proposal
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged Iran on Wednesday to endorse a plan that would strip it of most of its enriched uranium, saying Tehran could not defuse fears about its nuclear program with proposals that included keeping the material. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's comments were his firmest public rejection to date of Iranian attempts to modify a proposal that would involve shipping out around 70 percent of its enriched stockpile and returning it in the form of fuel rods for its Tehran research reactor.

While Iran has offered several counterproposals - buying the rods from abroad or exchanging its enriched uranium in small batches - all have in common Teheran's rejection of exporting most of its enriched uranium. Iran now has enough enriched uranium for up to two nuclear weapons. If stripped of 70 percent of that material, its ability to make such arms would be delayed for at least a year. Teheran insists it wants to enrich only to power an envisaged nuclear reactor network. But fears that it could instead turn to making fissile highly enriched uranium for warheads have resulted in UN Security Council demands that it freeze enrichment - and three sets of UN sanctions, shrugged off by Teheran.

more..............IAEA head to Iran: Accept nuclear proposal | Headlines News | Jerusalem Post

[Chris]

IAEA chief: Iran must accept nuclear proposal
By News Agencies

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged Iran on Wednesday to endorse a plan that would strip it of most of its enriched uranium, saying Tehran could not defuse fears about its nuclear program with proposals that included keeping the material. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's comments were his firmest public rejection to date of Iranian attempts to modify a proposal that would involve shipping out around 70 percent of its enriched stockpile and returning it in the form of fuel rods for its Tehran research reactor.

While Iran has offered several counterproposals - buying the rods from abroad or exchanging its enriched uranium in small batches - all have in common Tehran's rejection of exporting most of its enriched uranium. Iran now has enough enriched uranium for up to two nuclear weapons. If stripped of 70 percent of that material, its ability to make such arms would be delayed for at least a year. Tehran insists it wants to enrich only to power an envisaged nuclear reactor network. But fears that it could instead turn to making fissile highly enriched uranium for warheads have resulted in UN Security Council demands that it freeze enrichment -and three sets of UN sanctions, shrugged off by Tehran.

more.................IAEA chief: Iran must accept nuclear proposal - Haaretz - Israel News