Senior officials from six world powers expressed disappointment today that Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential ability to make nuclear bombs, and urged Tehran to reconsider.
Iran has rejected a deal under which it would send enriched uranium abroad for rendering into fuel for medical purposes in Tehran.
"We are disappointed by the lack of follow-up on the three understandings (in the proposed deal)," said senior European Union official Robert Cooper after a meeting of officials from Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Russia and China.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had brokered a plan under which Iran would send low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, but Tehran on Wednesday rejected the proposal.
Under the initiative, Iran was given the option of shipping some 75 per cent of its low-enriched uranium out of the country for it to be converted into fuel plates for a Tehran reactor that makes isotopes for cancer treatments.
Asked whether Iran's rejection would lead to new sanctions, a source familiar with the talks said there had been a general discussion on sanctions but no specifics were broached.
World powers want to reduce Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile below the amount needed -- if refined to high purity -- for a single atom bomb.
Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.
Reuters