Iran is studying new proposals from the United States, Russia and France on a nuclear fuel swap, an Iranian news agency reported on Monday, but Paris denied this report, noting the only valid offer was an existing deal that Tehran has yet to accept.
The semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy organization, as saying proposals had been received after Tehran decided to step up its own uranium enrichment. "After Iran's decision to internally produce 20 percent enriched uranium, we received some proposals from Russia, America and France and right now we are studying this issue along with other proposals from different countries," the agency quoted the senior official as saying.
In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said the only valid offer was a deal presented last year by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "Mr Salehi should know that the only proposition is the one put forward by the IAEA last October, which has still not received a satisfactory response," said ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.
