IAEA: Iran Slows Uranium Enrichment
In what it calls a "significant" development, the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has slowed enrichment of uranium and increased cooperation with the agency — meaning Iran could be cleared of suspicions that its nuclear work in the past was part of a plan to build nuclear weapons.
Bloomberg reports that IAEA officials in Vienna say that it's the first time that they've agreed with Iran on a plan to resolve the outstanding issues that triggered sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.
But the development probably won't satisfy Iran's biggest critic, the United States, Bloomberg reports.
Today's report "is good news in itself, but I doubt it will be welcomed wholeheartedly by the UN Security Council," Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history and an associate fellow at the Chatham House international affairs institute in London, said in a telephone interview. "Washington will say Iran is being manipulative, giving a little to avoid sanctions in the short term.''
The United States is expected to press for a third round of sanctions next month. But Iranian officials have threatened to pull out of the agreement with the IAEA if the sanctions go ahead.
1:28 PM ET | 08-30-2007 | permalink
