Iran To Accept Un Nuclear Deal

Iran will accept a UN deal on its nuclear programme, but only if "very important changes" are made, Iranian state media have reported.

Al Alam TV quoted "informed" sources as saying Tehran would respond to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deal within 48 hours.

Under the draft proposal, Iran would send its enriched uranium to Russia and France to be turned into fuel.

Iran missed a Friday deadline for responding to the IAEA's proposal.

All the other parties have confirmed their support for the deal, which is seen as a way for Tehran to get the fuel it needs for an existing reactor, while giving guarantees to the West that its enriched uranium will not be used for nuclear weapons.

Al Alam said Iran would "accept the broad framework of the deal, but wants very important changes in it".

The station gave no further details on the changes Iran was reported to have requested be made to the draft.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was considering whether to send some of its uranium stock to other countries for enriching or to buy already enriched uranium.

Mr Mottaki said the decision would be announced within days.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that all the other parties in the talks had shown "a great deal of patience", and he accused Tehran of wasting time.

The AFP news agency quoted Mr Kouchner as saying that Mr Mottaki "makes declarations and more declarations" which "rarely provoke enthusiasm" and are "rarely very positive".

"We have been waiting for light at the end of the tunnel for almost three years. We will wait until we decide that enough is enough and that the process is exhausted," said Mr Kouchner.

"One day it will be too late."
EU foreign ministers had hoped to have a reply from Iran by Tuesday, in time for high-level meetings in Luxembourg.

The EU's Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said the UN had offered "a good deal" and did not require "fundamental changes", Reuters reports.

Source: BBC