Iran not interested in nuke fuel exchange

PARIS, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Iran said it was "no longer interested" in a nuclear fuel-exchange proposed by Washington and six other major powers, a Western diplomat reported Monday.

In Istanbul, Catherine Ashton, head of the delegation of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, said Saeed Jalili, her Iranian counterpart, refused to act on a modified plan to exchange Iran's low-enriched uranium for fuel rods to power a rundown Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes, The New York Times reported Monday.

"Iran was no longer interested in the Tehran reactor," Jalili said because it had discovered its own supply of uranium enabling the country to produce its own fuel.

Jalili's statement, experts speculate, may put pressure on President Obama to ramp up sanctions on Iran. Recognizing this, Jalili repeated his insistence the group make a statement "recognizing Iran's right to enrich" and lift existing sanctions at once, as preconditions for further talks, the Times said.

The idea of the fuel exchange was proposed in Oct. 2009 by the United States to lessen Iran's supply of low-enriched uranium by 75 percent, an amount too low to make a nuclear bomb. Iran now has nearly three times the amount of low-enriched uranium it had at that point plus enough to get it halfway to the amount needed to make a bomb.