Seeking to evade new UN sanctions, Iran on Monday formally submitted its plan to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel and said the onus was on world powers to defuse tensions by accepting the deal.
The development was unlikely to deter the US, Russia, China, Britain and France — the five permanent UN Security Council members — which last week agreed on a draft outlining the fourth set of sanctions against Tehran for refusing to give up uranium enrichment.
But Turkey and Brazil support Tehran. They are co-sponsors of the fuel swap deal, and Iranian officials told the Associated Press that diplomats from both countries joined with an Iranian representative in handing the proposal on Monday to Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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Mousavi opposes N-sanctions
Tehran : Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said he is opposed to sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme but has accused the government of “adventurism,” his website reported on Monday.
“Although we regard the current situation a result of mismanagement and adventurism in foreign policy, we cannot agree with sanctions which will affect people’s lives,” he said in a meeting on Sunday with Iran-Iraq war veterans. World powers led by the US are weighing fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme which they fear masks a weapons drive. Iran denies seeking weapons but it has faced three rounds of UN sanctions. —AFP