国际英语新闻：Iran's letter to IAEA says ready for simultaneous fuel swap within territory

TEHRAN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran's new letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was ready for a simultaneous fuel swap within its territory, Iran's English- language satellite channel Press TV reported Tuesday.

"Iran is still ready to purchase the fuel it needs for Tehran's research reactor," Iran's representative to the IAEA Ali Soltanieh said in a letter to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, adding that the agency should fulfill its duty and "facilitate the delivery of the fuel."

However, "Iran is ready to simultaneously exchange the fuel required for the Tehran research reactor with its low-enriched uranium within Iranian territory if the IAEA lacks the ability to fulfill its duties," Soltanieh said in the letter.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) in protective glasses visits an exhibition of Iran laser science and technology in Tehran, capital of Iran, Feb. 7, 2010

According to the official IRNA news agency, the letter was dated on Feb. 18 and has been published on IAEA's official website for information of its member states and circulated among IAEA Board of Governors upon Iran's request.

In the letter, Iran also asked the IAEA secretary general to inform the entire potential providers of nuclear fuel of the matter and to let Iran know about the result.

Under a draft deal brokered by the IAEA in October, most of Iran's existing low-grade enriched uranium should be shipped to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods with the purity of 20 percent.

Iran has not accepted the draft proposal and called for more talks over a possible deal.

On Feb. 7, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to start work on enriching uranium to a purity of 20 percent. But he also said that Iran was still ready for exchange of nuclear fuel with world powers.

Iran has been at the center of an international dispute over its nuclear plan. The United States and its Western allies have been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of a civilian program. Iran has denied the accusation and stressed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.