IAEA seeks Iran nuclear draft deal by tomorrow

The UN nuclear watchdog chief yesterday presented a draft deal to Iran and three big powers for approval by their capitals by tomorrow to allay fears Teheran might use an enriched-uranium stockpile to make nuclear weapons.

But uncertainty reigned whether Iran would endorse the draft deal calling on it to send most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) reserve to Russia and France soon for conversion into fuel for a nuclear medicine facility in Teheran.

This would reduce the high risk cited by the West of Iran, under suspicion over nuclear secrecy and restrictions on UN inspections, covertly refining LEU to the high level of purity suitable for nuclear weapons.

Iran, which says its nuclear energy quest is only for electricity generation, already has accumulated enough LEU for one bomb if it were further enriched. Iran's enrichment programme has approached industrial scale over the past year. Iran's delegation chief said the Vienna talks presided over by International Atomic Energy Agency director general Mohamed ElBaradei were constructive, but did not say whether the Iranian leadership would embrace the draft accord.

"We have to thoroughly study this text and... come back and reflect our opinion and suggestions or comments in order to have an amicable solution at the end of the day," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's IAEA ambassador, said. "We welcome this event, we are fully cooperating."