Iran says ready for nuclear fuel swap on its soil
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The Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said Wednesday that the Islamic Republic is ready for a nuclear fuel swap "simultaneously" and " inside Iranian territory," the official IRNA news agency reported.
Salehi said Iran is seeking objective guarantee for the nuclear fuel swap, referring to the exchange should be carried out " simultaneously and inside Iranian territory," according to the report.
Though Iran is making good progress in enriching uranium with the purity of 20 percent, it has written a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demanding countries which have the capacity supply 20 percent purity fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor, Salehi told reporters.
Under a draft deal brokered by the international nuclear watchdog IAEA, most of Iran's existing low-grade enriched uranium will be shipped to Russia and France, where it will be processed into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent. The higher-level enriched uranium will then be transported back to Iran.
Iran rejected the deal, urging for a simultaneous swap of the fuel on its soil.
Iran's foreign minister said Tuesday that a nuclear fuel swap can build trust for all sides involved, local satellite Press TV reported.
A nuclear fuel swap deal can provide an opportunity for confidence-building between Iran and West over Tehran's nuclear energy program, Manouchehr Mottaki said.
"We think that if the other sides have a true will to materialize the nuclear swap deal, it can become a multilateral confidence building measure for all sides," Mottaki was quoted as saying at a press conference in Tehran.
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