International Atomic Energy Agency

Iran's president today called for international cooperation on nuclear technology in a prime-time television appearance filled with conciliatory language toward the world community, in stark contrast to the dismissive tone of other senior Iranian officials toward a United Nations-backed proposal. Although President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not directly mention a U.S.-endorsed International Atomic Energy Agency plan in which Iran would trade the bulk of its enriched uranium in exchange for fuel to operate a Tehran medical reactor, he said Iran was confident and powerful enough to begin working with other countries and the U.N.'s international watchdog to expand the country's nuclear program.

As the head of the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency arrived in Iran on Saturday, the country's president declared that it had reported the existence of a new nuclear site earlier than required. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is in Tehran to arrange an inspection of the uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom. The revelation that Iran has been building the nuclear plant has heightened the concern of the United States and many of its allies, which suspect that Tehran is using a civilian nuclear program as a cover for developing weapons-making capability.

The international community waited anxiously today for Iran's response to a proposal to transfer the bulk of its nuclear material abroad to be turned into fuel for a peaceful medical research and treatment reactor. Earlier in the day, the United States, Russia and France formally signed off on the plan, which would retrofit the bulk of Iran's nuclear fuel stockpile into rods for a Tehran reactor used to diagnose and treat cancer. The U.S. delivered its positive response to the proposal to Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, a spokesman for the National Security Council confirmed this morning.

Deft diplomacy and regional security woes are driving Tehran and Washington toward a deal on Iran's nuclear program, experts say, illustrated by movement Wednesday in talks to transfer most of the Islamic Republic's fissile material abroad to be processed for medical uses. For three decades, Iran and the U.S. have been locked in a frustrating diplomatic flirtation. When one felt strong enough to offer a deal, the other felt too weak to accept. This time may ultimately prove to be no different.