Iran Rejects Russian Enrichment Proposal

In the nuclear cat and mouse game between Iran and the International community regarding the former's uranium enrichment ambitions, the Russian route now seems to have come off the table.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday it had ruled out a proposal to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia, further complicating the international dispute over the country's nuclear program.

Russia has sought to persuade Iran to move its enrichment program to Russian territory to allow closer international monitoring. The U.S. and the European Union had backed the idea as a way to ensure Iran would not misuse the process to make nuclear weapons.

Iran had insisted that the plan was negotiable and reached basic agreement with Moscow, but details were never worked out. (Yahoo News)

This will further fuel Western suspicions that Tehran's enrichment plans have to be seen in the context of the regime's desire to acquire nuclear weapons based on HEU (about 90% U-235). Iran continues to flatly deny wanting to develop nuclear weapons, instead insisting that it's nuclear program is entirely for peaceful purposes, in particular to reduce its domestic use of fossil fuel for energy generation.

Is the Tehran statement a genuine expression of how they look at things right now or are they just putting out some feelers to test the temperature? It wouldn't be too surprising if they called their own bluff tomorrow. Predictable negotiators these Iranians certainly aren't...

It's nonetheless a regrettable development, in my view.

Keywords: Iran, Tehran, nuclear, Russia, enrichment