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Iran says needs guarantees to ship nuclear fuel
Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:13am EST
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By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, signaling a possible softening of its opposition to a plan aimed at easing Western concern over its nuclear ambitions.
Last week Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki rejected a U.N.-drafted deal that would see Iran ship low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for reprocessing.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday that Iran was not opposed to sending LEU abroad as long as it had "100 percent guarantees" of receiving refined fuel in return, for use in a medical research reactor.
"Regarding the guarantees we are not going to suggest anything, but one ... could be exchanging it on Iranian soil, Mehmanparast told a news conference.
Any fuel swap in Iran, however, would likely be a non-starter for Western powers which are seeking a delay in Tehran's potential to make a nuclear bomb by reducing its LEU stockpile. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran's top nuclear official said it was up to world powers to find a guarantee that would satisfy Iran.
"The only way is that the West should give us a 100 percent guarantee to make this deal doable. The guarantee should be agreed by Iran," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Reuters when asked whether Iran's condition was to swap the fuel in its territory.
Major powers urged Tehran on Friday to accept the proposal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). U.S. President Barack Obama has warned of more sanctions on Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil producer.
Some analysts say hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad favors the fuel deal as a way to shore up his legitimacy after his disputed re-election in June, but that domestic rivals are trying to undermine him by criticizing the proposal.
Western officials also suspect that Iran is trying to buy time and avert the threat of more punitive measures by offering to hold further talks on the plan while pressing ahead with its nuclear enrichment work.
"COMMERCIAL ISSUE"
"Nobody in Iran ever said that we are against sending 3.5 percent-enriched uranium abroad. We talked about the process of dispatching fuel," Mehmanparast said.
"If we say we are looking for 100 percent guarantees, it means that we want 3.5 percent enriched uranium to be sent out under such circumstances that we make sure that we will receive the 20 percent fuel."
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said, according to Iran's Arabic-language al Alam television: "The Islamic Republic of Iran needs objective guarantees for exchanging fuel for its Tehran reactor."
Western powers agree that Iran has the right to develop a civilian nuclear program, but want restrictions to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Continued...
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