International pressure for new sanctions against Iran is growing after Tehran announced more moves to expand nuclear fuel production and enrichment plants. The United States, France and Israel led calls for what would be a fourth set of sanctions against Iran. The Pentagon said the United States wanted a UN Security Council resolution on Iran “within weeks” over its nuclear program. On Monday Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was forced to decide to begin refining uranium to a higher level by international powers who for months ignored the country’s proposal on fuel swap.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh: “We have been waiting for months about our proposal. One thing in brief and in conclusion is, there was a common element in both proposals. The common element was that Iran was ready to send equivalent required material out and receive the fuel simultaneously. They should have appreciated this concession by Iran. And we didn’t want, in fact, to produce it ourselves. Otherwise we should have started eight months ago, because we are master of enrichment technology. They forced us to choose this option. They should be blamed, those who totally ignored for the last nine months or most.”