Iran is ready to discuss synchronised uranium exchange

Iran is ready to discuss the question of exchanging low-enriched uranium (3.5%) to the high-enriched (20%) which is needed for the Teheran scientific reactor, RIA NOVOSTI reports, citing the Italian information agency ISNA and the representative of Iran to the IAEA, Ali Asgara Soltaniye.

Iran had earlier refused to accept the IAEA proposal of and started to
produce the high-enriched uranium on its own. Now Soltaniye says that the question may be discussed in case of interest being shown from all the sides.

The plan elaborated by the IAEA proposes to export 70% of the uranium produced in Iran (in Natanz, a town 250-300 km from Teheran) to Russia for Russia to enrich it up to 20%.  But Iran later started to demand a
synchronised exchange only on its own territory.

The decision of Iran produced a negative reaction from the world community. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it makes one doubt that Iran's intentions to resolve the problems of international tension over its nuclear program are sincere, while France and the US started to press for new sanctions.

The director of the organisations of nuclear energy of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, says that the enrichment process in Natanz is now underway. 164 centrifuges are producing 2-5 kg of 20% enriched uranium every month,
which is two times more than the reactor in Teheran requires (1.5 kg).