Iran says new nuclear proposals received

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi said Monday that the body has received proposals from the United States, Russia and France on a nuclear fuel swap.

“After Iran’s decision to domestically produce 20 percent-enriched uranium, we received some proposals from Russia, America and France,” Salehi told the Iranian Labor News Agency. “We are currently studying them along with other proposals from different countries.”

Last week Iran began enriching uranium to the level of less than 20 percent for a nuclear research reactor in Tehran which is running out of fuel.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Thursday that Iran had produced the first batch of the enriched uranium.

Salehi told Press TV that the new offers will not change Iran’s nuclear stance.

He pointed out that Iran’s production of the 20 percent-enriched uranium would come to an end only if “terms and conditions for a swap deal” are met by the Western side.

Under the original proposal put forward by the UN nuclear agency, Iran was to ship out the bulk of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia and France, and receive the fuel the research reactor requires months later.

However, disagreements over the details of deal have brought negotiations over it to a standstill. Thus, Iran opted to produce the fuel domestically while keeping the option for a swap open.

France reacted to Salehi’s remarks and denied that new proposals had been sent to Iran.

“Mr. Salehi should know that the only proposition is the one put forward by the IAEA last October, which has still not received a satisfactory response,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

Meanwhile, the US, which has pushed for new UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran, has offered to help Iran obtain medical isotopes — which are being produced in the research reactor.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday that the White House hopes the offer would help to “build some confidence” with Tehran.

The offer, however, was deemed as ‘illogical’ in Iran, since inevitably it would result in the Tehran research reactor being shut down.

“Shutting down the reactor or stopping the production of medicine is not the solution. The solution is that the other side cooperates to increase the number of these reactors as well as their production to meet the needs of patients,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.