Israel worried by IAEA draft accord on Iran

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says a draft accord presented by the IAEA would lead to recognition of Iran's nuclear enrichment program.

"If this agreement is implemented, it will take them back a year, but there is a fly in the ointment. It means that they (the US, Russia and France) recognize that Iran is enriching uranium and that helps them (Iran) with their argument that they are enriching uranium for peaceful purposes," DPA quoted Barak as saying on Thursday.

According to the draft agreement, Iran is to ship 1,200 kg (2,645 lb) of low-enriched (3.5-percent-enriched) uranium to Russia before the end of the year to be 20-percent-enriched, for use in production of medical isotopes.

"It is important to insist on an end to enrichment in Iran," Barak told Israel Radio.

Israel, which is the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, openly opposes Iran's nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes and has, on numerous occasions, threatened to bomb the country's nuclear installments.