Iran believes a nuclear fuel exchange with the West is still possible, state television said today, a day after the Islamic Republic's expansion of uranium enrichment drew a US warning of more sanctions soon.
"The deal is still on the table," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said on English-language Press TV.
But he appeared to reiterate Iran's demand for a simultaneous fuel swap on its soil - a likely non-starter for Western powers who want Tehran to send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad before it gets higher-grade material in return.
Mr Salehi said Iran's uranium could be sealed and under the "custody" of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the country, until it receives the fuel it needs for a medical research reactor.
President Barack Obama said yesterday the international community was moving "fairly quickly" toward imposing broader sanctions on Iran, after Tehran said it had started making uranium enriched to 20 per cent.
Mr Obama said Iran's refusal to accept a UN-brokered atomic fuel swap agreement suggested it was intent on trying to build nuclear weapons, despite its insistence its atomic activities were only for the peaceful generation of electricity.
Iran decided to step up enrichment after a failure to agree terms for the exchange, under which it would have sent the bulk of its uranium abroad in return for 20-per cent-pure fuel rods for a Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes.
Such an exchange would prevent Iran from retaining enough of the material for a nuclear weapon, if it were refined to 90 per cent. Iran has until now limited its enrichment to 3.5 per cent.
Reuters