Iran agrees in principle to Brazil offer

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed in principle with Brazil’s offer regarding a swap deal to provide fuel for the Tehran research reactor.

In a Tuesday telephone conversation President Ahmadinejad discussed various issues including Brazilian president Lula da Silva’s proposal to revive the nuclear fuel swap deal with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez.

The Iranian president agreed in principle with Lula’s suggestion, a statement on the presidential office website said without detailing Brazil’s offer.

According to the statement, President Ahmadinejad also stressed the need for more talks to discuss the technical specs of the deal.

Under a UN brokered deal, Iran would send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing and conversion into fuel rods for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radiomedicine for cancer patients.

Iran says it needed guarantees that the other side will deliver the fuel in a timely manner. The deal remains stalled as the West continues to ignore Tehran’s demand.

Brazil, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is among the countries trying to help finalize the deal.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said in March that the deal still had the chance to be agreed upon.

He said that there was a lack of confidence between Iran and some countries engaged in nuclear talks and suggested that a third “faithful depository” country could solve the problem.

“Iran doesn’t have confidence in some countries and those countries don’t have confidence in Iran. So what is the solution? Just as you have in private transactions, a faithful depositary that can be a third country,” had earlier said Amorim.

The Brazilian official did not specify which country should act as a neutral ground, but he did rule out Brazil, Reuters reported.