TEHRAN, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Iran says it still wants to swap its own low-grade uranium for Western enriched uranium that can be used in nuclear reactors.
At a meeting with his Portuguese counterpart at the African Union Summit in Ethiopia, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said: "We hope that the (nuclear) fuel exchange would be carried out through a realistic approach as soon as possible. The proposal for the fuel exchange is still on the table," Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
FNA said the statement highlighted Iran's fair stance on its peaceful nuclear program.
When Iran told the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, it had run out nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, FNA said, the agency proposed a deal in which Iran would exchange 3.5 percent-enriched uranium for 20 percent-enriched uranium from overseas suppliers in a program overseen by the IAEA.
The plan, at least in theory, would allow Iran to skip uranium enrichment development that could lead to nuclear weapons.
FNA said the United States and France were dragging their feet on the plan.
