Iran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief of a nuclear-fuel swap agreement brokered a week ago by Turkey and Brazil, Iran’s state-run Mehr news agency said on Monday.
Iranian, Turkish and Brazilian representatives delivered the notification to IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano today in Vienna, where the United Nations agency has its offices, Mehr cited Ramin Mehmanparast, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, as telling reporters in Istanbul.
Iran said it agreed to hand over about half of its enriched-uranium stockpile in exchange for fuel in a form that can be used only to run a Teheran reactor that produces medical isotopes. The swap would take place in Turkey. Russia and China backed the deal, which Iran said would be supervised by the IAEA.
Iran said the fuel-exchange agreement would make it unnecessary for the UN Security Council to consider a fourth round of sanctions over the nuclear program proposed by the US.
However, the US and its allies said the deal, announced in Teheran on May 17, sidestepped the dispute over Iran’s continued uranium enrichment.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on May 18 that, with cooperation from Russia and China, the US had created “a strong draft” of a sanctions resolution.
The proposed economic sanctions against Iran would bolster an arms embargo, restrict financial transactions and enhance authority to stop and seize Iranian cargo suspected of being linked to nuclear or missile work.
The US and its allies say Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons under the cover of a nuclear-energy program. Iran rejects the claim and says the work is solely civilian.