BEIRUT — Iran will offer to amend a proposal to transfer the bulk of its nuclear material abroad to be transformed into fuel for a peaceful medical reactor in Tehran, state television reported Tuesday.
Iran will respond to an American-backed International Atomic Energy Agency proposal within 48 hours, but its counteroffer will include “important adjustments,” said Iran’s state-controlled Al Alam, citing unnamed sources.
The Arabic-language television channel often broadcasts official news or floats trial balloons before other networks.
The U.S., Russia, France and the atomic energy agency signed off on a plan to transport the bulk of Iran’s enriched uranium from Iran to Russia and France to be further refined and turned into fuel plates for a reactor that produces isotopes for cancer diagnoses and treatment.
Although the deal would not fully allay international concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it would temporarily reduce the country’s stockpile and dampen fears that Iran could suddenly break out of treaty obligations and make a quick sprint toward developing a nuclear weapon.
Diplomats said the deal also could lay the groundwork for broader negotiations. But some have grown impatient with Iran.
“Iran is wasting time because it is now that we need to talk. One day, it will be too late,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.
According to Al Alam, “Tehran will agree with the general framework of the agreement on fuel for the Tehran research nuclear reactor, but it will also stipulate important provisos,” which its source did not specify.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki said Iran was closely considering the deal but may want to send less than the 2,650 pounds of enriched uranium it specifies.
Al Alam’s Iran affairs editor, Nevid Behrouz, said Tuesday that Iran’s worries about the plan center on the quantity it was to ship abroad and its worries that the West would not send the material back.
