Iran to officially accept nuke deal

Also on Friday, IRNA quoted a top Iranian cleric as saying that the deal was a “powerful response” that “put the ball in the West’s court.” He reportedly stated that far from being a ploy meant to facilitate enrichment for military use, the deal should be seen as a confidence-building measure.

Meanwhile in Turkey, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the deal reached last week would “open the door to a negotiated settlement” between Iran and Western nations, according to a Reuters report.

Ban reportedly called the enrichment agreement “an important initiative in resolving international tensions over Iran’s nuclear program by peaceful means.” He went on to praise Turkey’s role and cooperation with Brazil in negotiating the deal, stressing that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would have to make its own assessment concerning the issue at hand.

The deal – signed with Turkey and Brazil on Monday – would see Iran shipping its low-enriched uranium for further enrichment in Turkey, to be returned as fuel rods that could not be used for a nuclear weapons program without first being reprocessed.

While the new arrangement would see a similar amount of uranium shipped abroad as in a deal proposed in October by the P5+1, Iran has since produced sufficient additional low-enriched material to leave it with enough to make such a weapon even if it sends the originally agreed on amount abroad. In addition, Iran has signaled it intends to keep enriching uranium to a higher level in the meantime.

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