Source: DTN News / Int'l Media(NSI News Source Info) TEHERAN, Iran - May 16, 2010: IRAN said on Saturday it was willing to discuss a venue to swap uranium that needs to be enriched for a nuclear research
reactor if it obtains 'concrete guarantees,' Al-Alam television reported.
The Arabic-language channel quoted foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying that Teheran struck a deal on the amount of uranium to be exchanged and the modality of the swap - simultaneously or in batches.
'There is an agreement on the time and the volume of the fuel to be exchanged,' Mehmanparast said according to Al-Alam, without elaborating on the deal or with whom it was reached. 'But there is still the venue (to be decided) and if there are concrete guarantees, Iran is willing to discuss the location,' he added.
The remarks came as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was due to arrive in Teheran for a nuclear summit that major powers have said might prove to be Iran's last chance to avoid tough new UN sanctions. Lula, who is expected to land at midnight (1930 GMT or 3.30am Sunday S'pore time), told reporters in Moscow on Friday he was 'optimistic' and hoped to be able to persuade Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to reach an agreement with the West.
The International Atomic Energy Agency proposed in October a plan whereby Iran would hand over its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia for enrichment to the required level of 20 per cent. The material would then be processed by France into the necessary fuel rods for the Teheran reactor, which makes radioisotopes for medical purposes such as the treatment of cancer.
Citing a 'lack of confidence,' Teheran rejected the proposal and offered an exchange of fuel simultaneously and in smaller quantities within the borders of country, but the West rejected its counter-offer.
reactor if it obtains 'concrete guarantees,' Al-Alam television reported.The Arabic-language channel quoted foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying that Teheran struck a deal on the amount of uranium to be exchanged and the modality of the swap - simultaneously or in batches.
'There is an agreement on the time and the volume of the fuel to be exchanged,' Mehmanparast said according to Al-Alam, without elaborating on the deal or with whom it was reached. 'But there is still the venue (to be decided) and if there are concrete guarantees, Iran is willing to discuss the location,' he added.
The remarks came as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was due to arrive in Teheran for a nuclear summit that major powers have said might prove to be Iran's last chance to avoid tough new UN sanctions. Lula, who is expected to land at midnight (1930 GMT or 3.30am Sunday S'pore time), told reporters in Moscow on Friday he was 'optimistic' and hoped to be able to persuade Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to reach an agreement with the West.
The International Atomic Energy Agency proposed in October a plan whereby Iran would hand over its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia for enrichment to the required level of 20 per cent. The material would then be processed by France into the necessary fuel rods for the Teheran reactor, which makes radioisotopes for medical purposes such as the treatment of cancer.
Citing a 'lack of confidence,' Teheran rejected the proposal and offered an exchange of fuel simultaneously and in smaller quantities within the borders of country, but the West rejected its counter-offer.
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