Vienna - Turkey is being considered as a possible partner for storing Iranian uranium as part of a deal to process Iranian nuclear fuel abroad, sources within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Saturday. The temporary storage option would be part of a larger plan to export low-grade Iranian nuclear fuel to Russia and France where it could be enriched to be used as fuel in Iran's medical-purpose reactor.
The deal is seen internationally as a confidence-building measure for Iran, which wants to prove to the world that is nuclear programme is not intended for making weapons. However, Iran has not ruled out purchasing its nuclear fuel from other countries.
According to the IAEA sources, Turkey is prepared to consider the storage option, but Iran still has questions.
If Turkey would participate, it would essentially work as a guarantor to allay Iranian fears that the fuel it exported would not be returned as enriched fuel. The deal has been under negotiation between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, plus Germany.
The new proposal, which was reportedly drafted by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, would have Iran ship the nuclear fuel to Turkey, which would hold on to it while Russia enriches a separate batch of nuclear fuel. Russia would only receive the original Iranian fuel once it had delivered the enriched fuel to Iran.
