Iran agreed with mediators Brazil and Turkey on Monday it would send some of its uranium abroad, abruptly ending its refusal to countenance such a deal just as the UNSC readied tougher sanctions.
In a sign of Western scepticism despite Iran’s apparent concessions to revive a UN-drafted fuel swap plan, Britain said work on further UN sanctions on Tehran must continue until it can assure the world its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Iran made clear it had no intention of heeding dem-ands to suspend sensitive atomic activities which the West suspects are aimed at making bombs, including work to enrich uranium to a level of 20 per cent it launc-hed in February. “There is no relation between the swap deal and our enrichment activities,” said Iran Atomic Energy Organisa-tion’s Ali Akbar Salehi.
—Reuters