E-Paper
Iran waves nuclear deal
Iran has made another counter-offer to a stalled United Nations atomic fuel proposal aimed at easing nuclear tensions, but the conditions Tehran is proposing will remain unacceptable to big powers, sources said.
Iran has made another counter-offer to a stalled United Nations atomic fuel proposal aimed at easing nuclear tensions, but the conditions Tehran is proposing will remain unacceptable to big powers, sources said.
In a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki proposed an exchange on Iranian soil using a lower amount of low-enriched uranium than in the IAEA offer. This amount could be swapped simultaneously for half of the equivalent reactor fuel, with the rest of the fuel coming later, he told Amano.
Iran’s move is part of its campaign against new UN sanctions over its atomic work.
Major world powers have urged Iran to accept a months-old IAEA plan to ship 1,200 kg of its low enriched uranium — enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level — abroad for transformation into fuel for a medical reactor.
Iran agreed in principle to the deal in October but then demanded changes such as a simultaneous swap on Iranian soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable.
