TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said on Tuesday that it was ready to send its uranium abroad for further enrichment as requested by the U.N.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the decision in an interview with state Iranian television.
He said Iran will have “no problem” giving the West its low-enriched uranium and taking it back several months later when it is enriched by 20 percent.
The U.S. said it was ready to listen if Iran was proposing a new offer to the nuclear impasse.
Iran’s decision could signal a major shift in its position on the issue.
Still, it was unclear how much of a concession the Ahmadinejad comments represented, even though he appeared to be saying for the first time that Iran was willing to ship out its enriched uranium and wait for it to be returned in the form of fuel for its Tehran research reactor.
But his time frame of four or five months appeared to fall short of the year that Western officials say it would take for Iran’s enriched fuel to be turned into fuel rods for the reactor.
If that difference cannot be bridged, it could allow Iranian officials to assert that the deal failed due to Western foot-dragging, despite their readiness to accept the proposed formula of shipping out the bulk of their enriched uranium and waiting for it to be converted and returned as fuel.
Key condition not addressed
Ahmadinejad also did not address whether his country was ready to ship out most of its stockpile in… >>>
