Iran will respond to UN's uranium enrichment plan next week

Iran on Friday has yet to accept a U.N.-drafted plan that would ship most of the country's uranium abroad for enrichment. Iran said it would prefer to buy the nuclear fuel it needs for a reactor that makes medical isotopes.

According to state TV, Iran did not reject the plan but was waiting on responses from its own proposal to buy fuel for a Tehran research reactor. Iran has over the past couple of years used counter proposals as a way to avoid negotiations with the West. Yahoo reports an unnamed member of Iran's negotiating team urged world powers Friday to "refrain from past mistakes in violating agreements and make efforts to win the trust of the Iranian nation." President Barack Obama has tried to open discussions about Iran's nuclear program - more than his predecessor, George W. Bush. However, Obama threatened nuclear sanctions against Iran if it didn't cooperate. The U.N. Security Council has already passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for failing to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The challenge for Obama is trying to convince Russia and China to put pressure on Iran since both nations have close ties with Tehran. After a three day discussion in Vienna, the draft of the U.N. agreement was formalized on Wednesday. Mohamed ElBaradei, U.N. nuclear watchdog, hopes that after the talks in Vienna that the United States, Russia and France will approve the plan on Friday. Bernard Valero, French Foreign Ministry said Thursday that, the plan would require that Iran send 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium, around seventy percent of its stockpile, to Russia by the end of the year. After further Russian enrichment, France will convert the uranium into fuel rods which would then be sent back to Tehran for their reactor. The U.S. believes that based on the current Iranian stockpile, Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015. This data was conclusive with other nations and Israel. Iran has agreed to allow U.N inspectors to visit the facility. The Official Islamic Republic News Agency said on Friday that representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency would arrive on Saturday to start the inspection.