Clinton Says Iran Still Hasn't Accepted Fuel Swap Deal, Sanctions "Sometime in the Spring"
ABC
27-Apr-2010

ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that Iran has still not accepted a proposed nuclear fuel swap deal that could avert a push for sanctions and suggested Iran direct its response to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Her comments come after Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met over the weekend with the Director General of the IAEA Yukiya Amano. The IAEA has been monitoring Iran’s nuclear sites and would be the official channel for Iran to respond to the offer put on the table last fall.

“There was nothing new that was presented,” Clinton said today of the weekend meeting, in response to a question by ABC News.

Under the proposed fuels swap deal, Iran would send 1,100 kilograms of low-enriched uranium abroad, where it would be further enriched and inserted into fuel rods and returned to Iran for use in the Tehran Research Reactor. Such a deal would provide Iran with the fuel it says it needs for a civilian nuclear program while preventing Iran from further enriching the uranium to weapons grade. Iran initially indicated it was willing to accept the offer, but then provided mixed signals.

The proposal was made in early October during meetings between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries that have been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Those meetings took place just days after the US, Franc... >>>

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