Geneva/Luxembourg - Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, said Tuesday he expected Iran to reply this week to a proposed international nuclear fuel deal and indicated the next round of the Islamic state's talks with world powers would be delayed. The United States, Russia and France have already agreed to a plan to reduce Iran's enriched uranium stock by processing it abroad, but Iranian broadcaster Al-Alam on Tuesday eported that Tehran would need another 48 hours to respond.
The deal would build some confidence that Iran will not use its uranium to make bombs, but rather as fuel for a medical-use reactor.
Al-Alam reported that Tehran would seek significant changes to the agreement drawn up by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
"The deal was a good deal and I don't think it requires fundamental changes," Solana told reporters in Luxembourg where he attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Regarding the next round of Iran's talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, Britain, France, Russia, the US - plus Germany, Solana implied that the end-of-the-month deadline announced at the previous negotiation session in Geneva might be pushed back.
"The end of the month can be the first days of November, it's not solely the last days of the month," said Solana, who led the six parties in their talks with Iran on October 1.
In that round of talks, a basic agreement on the fuel deal, as well as holding a second round of nuclear negotiations before the end of the month had been two of the key outcomes.
Diplomats in Geneva said the likelihood of holding negotiations this week are slim.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has been holding a hard line in the talks with Iran, said the Islamic republic was wasting time and that dialogue could not go on indefinitely.
"We have been waiting for years for the light at the end of the tunnel," said Kouchner, adding "we need answers."
"One day it will be too late," Kouchner said in Luxembourg.
The IAEA-drafted deal foresees Tehran sending low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment. The material would then be shipped to France, where it would be made into fuel elements to power a medical-purpose reactor in Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Monday that contrary to the IAEA's proposal, Iran might export only parts, not most of its enriched uranium stock for processing.
Washington agreed to help with the technical upkeep of the reactor which was supplied by the US before the Islamic Revolution, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's IAEA ambassador, said last week.
Meanwhile, IAEA inspectors were in Iran for the third day to probe a second uranium enrichment plant that Iran informed the nuclear agency about only in September, years after starting construction.
Tehran's late declaration heightened fears among Western countries that Iran may try to use enrichment technology to make material for a nuclear weapon, though Tehran said it intends to use its technology only to run power and scientific reactors.
