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France rejects Iran's bid for more talks on nuclear fuel
PARIS
Petroleumworld.com, Nov 20, 2009
France on Thursday rejected Iran's request for more talks to explore the technical details of a plan to provide nuclear fuel as part of Western efforts to address fears about Tehran's atomic programme.Iran on Wednesday rejected a Western proposal for it to send most of its stocks of low-enriched uranium abroad in return for nuclear fuel, but on Thursday said it was open to more talks.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said dialogue could continue with Tehran on its contentious nuclear programme, but that "it will not touch on the technical issues."
"Iran has clearly rejected the proposed deal offered by Mohamed El Baradei on providing fuel for the Tehran research reactor," he said, referring to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
"We will assess the consequences of this response with our partners in the 5+1 group", he said. The group comprises Britain, China, France, Germany and the United States.
The Isna news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday as calling for a technical meeting with the United States, France and Russia to discuss the proposal of swapping enriched uranium for fuel.
Under the IAEA-brokered proposal, Iran would send out 1,200 kilograms (more than 2,640 pounds) of enriched uranium, which would then be further enriched by Russia and converted into fuel by France before being supplied to Tehran.
Western leaders fear Iran could divert some of its uranium stocks and enrich them to the much higher levels of purity required to make an atomic bomb, but Iran has strongly denied that it has such plans.
Story from AFP
AFP 11/19/2009 13:12
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