Iran’s Mottaki in good talks with IAEA chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday he had held a “very good meeting” with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over a nuclear fuel swap proposal.

“Today I had a very good meeting with the head of IAEA, Yukiya Amano,” Mottaki said on the sidelines of a major security conference in Munich.

“We discussed and exchanged views about a wide range of issues … We also exchanged views about the proposal that is on the table. I tried to explain the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the director general,” he said.

Iran is seeking to strike a deal with the West to swap low-enriched uranium with more refined nuclear material for a research reactor in Tehran, which produces medical isotopes.

On Friday, Mottaki said the country was “close” to an agreement with the other parties. However, his remarks were brushed aside by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whose country seeks to impose further international sanctions against Tehran over its program.

The West accuses the country of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran, however, says the work is directed at the civilian application of the technology and has called on world powers to abandon their weapons of mass destruction.