Iran ready to accept Brazil's proposal on uranium exchange

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed his willingness to accept Brazil's proposal on the exchange of low-enriched uranium for
nuclear fuel during a telephone conversation with his Venezuelan Counterpart Hugo Chavez,  Trend reported.

Ahmadinejad said the details of the uranium swap will be discussed during Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's forthcoming Tehran visit, scheduled for next week.

Earlier, Ahmadinejad stated that Iran agrees to the IAEA proposal on the exchange of low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel produced in Russia and France, which would guarantee the impossibility of its use for military purposes.

Iran needs about 120 kg of 19.75-percent enriched uranium to be used for medical purposes at the Tehran research reactor.

In October 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and "six international mediators on Iran" (Russia, the U.S., China, Britain, France and Germany) offered Tehran to exchange low-enriched uranium - 3.5% to high-enriched uranium - 20%. According to this plan,
Iran was proposed to export its LEU to Russia where it would be further enriched and then sent to France for processing it into fuel assemblies for the Tehran reactor.

But Tehran said it was ready to buy more highly enriched uranium or make an exchange, provided that the exchange is held on Iranian territory. World powers and the IAEA, with its headquarters in Vienna, declined the Iranian proposal.

The Tehran research reactor was built 40 years ago by the United States and its main function is to produce medicine.

The US and other Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons for military purposes under the guise of peaceful nuclear
energy program. Tehran denies the charges, saying that its nuclear program is aimed solely at meeting the country's electricity needs. The UN Security Council has adopted five resolutions in connection with the suspension of Iran's nuclear program. Three involve the use of economic sanctions against Iran.