Iran has put the world on edge with its nuclear ambitions. Calls for negotiations have largely been unsuccessful at this point and has escalated to the point of the U.S. putting the possibility of military force on the table.

However, negotiations have since resumed with some hope of a positive outcome for all nations involved. A senior Iranian official announced that the country was willing to meet Western demands halfway. Ferydon Abbasi, the senior head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, announced that Iran has plans to enrich uranium to no more than 20 percent purity just for the use of a medical research reactor. He also added that all other activities towards uranium enrichment would be only used to fuel power generation reactors.

Abassi’s statement, if believed, is a good sign in the right direction. However, another Iranian official released a statement that completely runs counter to Abassi’s announcement. Foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi made his own announcement that Iran has no plans of agreeing to any preconditions before negotiation resumes.

One can only speculate, but it appears that the conflicting remarks made by Abassi and Salehi are due to internal debate and conflict within Iran’s own regime. Iran is after all, being threatened with economic sanctions and a European embargo if it proceeds with plans to build a nuclear weapon.

The negotiations will involve Iran and members of the United Nations Security Council, which includes the U.S., Britain, Russia, France and China.

One of the conditions by U.S. and European diplomats is for Iran to transfer its current stockpile of uranium fuel out of the country. Additional demands also include the dismantling of a newly constructed nuclear compound located under a mountain near the city of Qum.

Iran continues to persist that its uranium is only intended for peaceful purposes, while the United Nations continue to hold suspicion that Iran is enriching its uranium to construct a nuclear weapon. Until the negotiations resume, there is no telling which direction Iran will take.

In short Iran is screwing around with the world and stalls for time as it feverishly continues to develop a nuclear weapon.
This is what a third world nuclear arms race looks like – in case you were wondering..