Six University Presidents are touring Iran to increase “collaboration in science and higher education” at the same time the nation’s religious government is moving closer to developing an atomic bomb and taking steps to censor more information from its citizens.

According to CBS News:

The presidents of six leading U.S. universities are touring Iran, the latest in a series of exchange visits involving senior academics and scientists. The American academics include the presidents of Cornell, Carnegie Mellon and Rice Universities.

"We believe it is important to maintain and renew academic ties between our two countries as a means of laying the groundwork for greater understanding and rebuilding what was once a very healthy collaboration in science and higher education,” said Robert Berdahl, the president of the Association of American Universities which organized the tour.

The call for increased scientific collaboration between American higher education and the Islamic state comes at the same time news reports are indicating that Iran now has enough nuclear fuel for to build an atomic weapon. According to the New York Times:

Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.

The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.

Meanwhile, according to Fox News, Iran has blocked access to millions of “immoral” website:

Abdolsamad Khoram Abadi, an adviser to Iran's prosecutor general, said anything perceived as immoral, anti-social or un-Islamic will be blocked, including the popular sites Facebook and YouTube. Iranians will not have access to many news sites either.

Internet service providers in Iran are already told to block access to political, human rights and women's sites, as well as anything pornographic....

Despite these dangerous signals from Iran, the university presidents are there as part of a larger mission to encourage greater cooperation with that nation, both in academia and international diplomacy:

Officially, the academics are guests of Iran’s most prestigious science and technology college, Sharif University, where they will take part in an open question and answer session with Iranian students.

Unofficially, though, they are part of Iran’s complex and shifting political agenda.

Their visit comes at a time of renewed hope for increased cooperation between Iran and the United States, which has not had an embassy in Tehran since the seizing of 52 hostages in 1979.

President-elect Barack Obama has advocated “direct, tough presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.”