Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Iran Ready for Nuclear Deal- Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel. Ahmadinejad has apparently dropped Tehran’s demands that the uranium swap be carried out on Iranian soil and in stages.

"We have no problem with the swap of our enriched uranium," Ahmadinejad said.

"The 3.5 percent fuel will remain in Iran. We sign a contract with them to produce the 20 percent fuel. We would then make the swap

"Even if we send our enriched uranium abroad, there won’t be any problem. Some people inside the country made a big deal and kept saying what if they would take our enriched uranium and refuse to give us the 20 percent fuel. We say if such thing happens, it would be a proof that they were not honest and we will have a free hand to do what we have to do,” he said [IRIB, 2 February].

A US spokesman said today if Iran was serious about a nuclear deal it should inform the IAEA. The UN watchdog agency had brokered a proposed deal last October that Iran would send 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for more highly enriched fuel for a medical research reactor, thus reducing Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium below the quantity needed for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon.

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