Officials: Iran responds to fuel swap offer

[demoleft]

Source: ap

VIENNA – Iran has formally responded to a nuclear fuel swap proposal backed by the world's major powers with a counteroffer effectively rejecting their demand that Tehran export most of the material it would need to make a warhead, diplomats said Tuesday.

For months, Iranian officials have used the media to criticize the plan and offer alternatives to one of its main conditions — that the Islamic republic ship out most of its stock of enriched uranium and then wait for up to a year for its return in the form of fuel rods for its Tehran research reactor.

While critical of such statements, the United States and its allies said they did not constitute a formal response to the plan, first drawn up in early October in a landmark meeting in Geneva between Iran and the six world powers, and then refined later that month in Vienna talks among Iran, the U.S., Russia and France.
...
The IAEA-brokered talks in Vienna came up with a draft proposal that would take 70 percent of Iran's low-enriched uranium to reduce its stockpile of material that could be enriched to a higher level, and possibly be used to make nuclear weapons.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/ap_on_re_eu/iran_nuclear

[jmowreader]

1. I can kinda see their point

If you were to go to Any Other Country and tell 'em "we want to take your fuel, reprocess your fuel and send your fuel back to you, and this is going to take a year" they wouldn't do it either. If you want the Iranians to take you seriously, offer to pick up their current fuel with the truck that delivers their new fuel rods--IOW a direct exchange.