Iran rejects new IAEA plan, while Russia may support sanctions

Iran has rejected the latest offer from the IAEA on its nuclear enrichment program, paving the way for a new round of sanctions that could be backed by Russia.

Iran has long held the position that it has a sovereign right to a nuclear program and that its nuclear ambitions are meant to satisfy peaceful purposes around energy and medical applications. The only problem is much of the outside world does not believe them. After the UN's International Atomic Energy Agengy (IAEA) came back to the Iranian authorities with a new offer that would require Iran to ship their enriched uranium to Turkey, Iran announced its rejection of the plan on Sunday. The original IAEA plan featured France and Russia as the uranium enrichment destinations - with the United States, Russia, and France all in agreement on the idea. But it now appears that patience with Iran may be running out. Russia signaled that it may back sanctions against Iran if the Iranian authorities do not take "a constructive position" on the uranium enrichment question. "We would not want this to end in imposing sanctions under international law, because sanctions, as a rule, are a complex and dangerous path," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told German news magazine, Der Spiegel. "But if there is no forward movement, no one can rule out this scenario."