Netanyahu supports Iranian nuclear deal

JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Friday he endorses a proposal for Iran to export its enriched uranium.

Netanyahu, speaking after a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy for the region, George J. Mitchell, said the U.S.-backed plan to have Iran ship its enriched uranium abroad was a positive move, The New York Times reported.

"I think that the proposal that the president made in Geneva to have Iran withdraw its enriched uranium, or a good portion of it, outside Iran is a positive first step in that direction, and I support and appreciate the president's ongoing effort to unite the international community to address the challenge of Iran's attempts to become a nuclear military power," Netanyahu said in Jerusalem.

The proposal, which is still being negotiated, would have Iran ship 75 percent of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium outside its borders, the Times said. That uranium would then be processed so it could be used at an Iranian reactor to create medical isotopes.

Netanyahu made the comments a day before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to arrive in Israel to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.