Iran refuses to send all uranium abroad

Tehran agrees to nuke deal but demands changes
Iran refuses to send all uranium abroad

TEHRAN (Al Arabiya, Agencies)

Iran said it would not send all its uranium abroad but accepted the broad framework of a United Nations-brokered deal but wants "very important changes" in the plan, a state TV channel reported on Tuesday.

The television quoted a source close to Iran's nuclear negotiating team as saying Tehran will offer its response within the next "48 hours" to the deal, which has already received the backing of Western powers.

It did not give details on what kind of changes Tehran would seek to the draft agreement hammered out by U.N. nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei in consultations with Iran, Russia, France and the United States in Vienna last week.

" An informed source told Fars that the Islamic Republic of Iran within the next two days will respond to the draft of providing fuel for the Tehran reactor " FARS

The draft pact calls for Iran to transfer some 80 percent of its known 1.5 tons of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for further enrichment by the end of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates.

These would be returned to Tehran to fuel a research reactor that produces radio-isotopes for cancer treatment.

On Monday, a senior Iranian lawmaker said the Islamic state should send its LEU abroad in several phases for further processing.

Iran's Fars news agency earlier on Tuesday reported that Tehran will deliver its response within two days.

"An informed source told Fars that the Islamic Republic of Iran within the next two days will respond to the draft of providing fuel for the Tehran reactor," the report said.

Moscow has called for patience within the international community.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday accused Iran of "wasting time" as the west waits for it to deliver its response on the deal for overseas treatment of low-enriched uranium.

Enrichment of uranium is the most controversial aspect of Tehran's nuclear program since it can be used both to generate electricity -- as Tehran says it is doing -- or to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Tehran has defied five U.N. Security Council resolutions on its controversial nuclear program, including three with sanctions attached.