Vienna - A deal to get Iran's nuclear materials out of the country, and in return supply its research reactor, would help push forward the world powers' wider talks with the Islamic state, diplomats said ahead of a meeting in Vienna starting on Monday. But both sides were eying each other's goodwill and intentions warily ahead of the talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Referring to Iran's leaders, a Western diplomat said: "They have asked for this deal, and I hope they can take yes for an answer."
After the outlines of the fuel export scheme were agreed in multi- party negotiations in Geneva at the start of the month, high-ranking officials and technical experts from Iran, France, Russia, the United States and the IAEA are set to gather to hammer out details.
Under this deal, Iran would ship most of its enriched uranium to Russia, where it would be enriched further to a level suitable for a research reactor that makes nuclear medicine for cancer treatment.
The material would then go to France, where it would be manufactured into fuel units, before being sent back to Iran.
The reactor's fuel is due to run out in 18 months, and experts and diplomats say Iran lacks the means to make such fuel itself.
This scheme would allay the West's fears that Iran might misuse its uranium for nuclear weapons, diplomats said - a fear that has been rekindled recently by Tehran's late revelation about a second enrichment plant near Qom.
"This would be a chance for Iran to show that it uses its enriched uranium only for civilian purposes," a European diplomat said in Vienna.
It would open a time window for negotiations in which the uranium stock is out of the country, and "create some breathing space" for Iran's wider nuclear talks with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US, Washington-based non-proliferation expert Joshua Pollack said.
While the fuel re-export plan may sound simple, technical and legal details still have to be negotiated in the Vienna talks, which the IAEA said could last up to three days.
Although Western diplomats said after the Geneva meeting that the idea was to export most of Iran's enriched uranium, diplomats from several involved countries said this week that the exact amount was something yet to be agreed upon, along with the timing of the shipment and the costs.
France wants the shipment to occur before year-end, according to an internal French Foreign Ministry document published by French weekly Bakchich Hebdo, and the European diplomat said that Washington and Paris want it to happen as soon as possi
