Moscow: Iran does not rule out handing over uranium enrichment for its nuclear reactor in Tehran to some other country if it gets firm guarantees of fuel supplies, the Iranian foreign ministry has said.
"If a guarantee is provided to supply the 20 percent [enriched] fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, our officials are ready to enter talks about 20 percent enrichment," the ministry's spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said at a conference in Kazakhstan.
But he added that Tehran reserves the right to continue its own enrichment programme, Press TV reported Saturday.
A new deal for Iran is in the works with the five permanent Security Council members - Russia, the US, Britain, China and France - and Germany, offering easing of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for caps on uranium enrichment in the country, The Guardian said earlier.
The deal may be put on the table after the presidential elections in the US Nov 6, the report said.
Economic sanctions hindering Iranian oil exports have caused an almost 40-percent devaluation of the Iranian rial in recent weeks, which even prompted street protests by local small merchants, normally the core constituency of the ruling Islamic regime.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, October 14, 2012, 11:37