Iran mulls possible uranium swap

Exchange would give Tehran nuclear fuel for medical reactor

Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times

Doha, Qatar -- A state-owned Iranian television station quoted unnamed diplomats Sunday as saying Iran, in a possible compromise to a United Nations-backed proposal, is willing to send 800 kilograms, or 1,764 pounds of its enriched uranium abroad to be exchanged for fuel for a medical reactor.

The original proposal, backed by the Obama administration, had called for Iran to send abroad 1,200 kilograms, or 70 percent of its nuclear material supply, by year's end, temporarily lowering Iran's capacity to build a nuclear bomb and creating the diplomatic breathing room for a possible broader deal.

Although Iran maintains its nuclear development program is for civilian energy purposes only, Western nations believe the Islamic Republic is seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Diplomats looking for a way out of a years-long impasse over Iran's nuclear program weeks ago proposed a deal in which Iran would give up the bulk of its refined uranium to be further refined and fitted in Russia and France for the Tehran medical reactor.

The report Sunday on the Press TV Web site said Iran instead sought a "two-staged, simultaneous exchange" of 800 kilograms of its enriched uranium for 120 kilograms, or 265 pounds, of medical reactor uranium plates.

Iran has yet to formally reply to the U.N.-backed export proposal. Some Iranian officials said they did not trust Russia and France to follow through on the offer to enrich the material for use in the medical reactor.

Saturday, the head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign affairs committee said Iran would refuse to send any of its low-enriched uranium abroad.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov paid a surprise visit to Tehran on Sunday to meet with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.