Iran Nuclear Deal, Nuclear Weapon | featured news

Russia will not support "crippling" sanctions against Iran, including any that may be slapped on the Islamic Republic's banking or energy sectors, a senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday.

Iran has formally set out its terms for giving up most of its cache of enriched uranium in a confidential document, and the conditions fall short of what has been demanded by the United States and other world powers....

Russia joined the U.S. and France in urging Iran to stop enriching uranium to higher levels in a statement shared Tuesday with The Associated Press, suggesting the project reinforced suspicions that Tehran is seeking to make nuclear weapons.

Both President Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev want Iran to relinquish potential nuclear explosive material in return for fuel. A White House official says the two leaders discussed possible sanctions if Iran refuses to comply.

A senior Iranian politician said Saturday the country would not ship low-enriched uranium out of the country, which is a major part of a pending nuclear deal between Iran and international powers, according to semiofficial state media.

Iran is ready for another round of talks on a U.N.-drafted nuclear fuel proposal, Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday. "We are ready for the next round of technical discussions in Vienna at the IAEA headquarters," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters.