Iran, World Powers Deliberate Enriched Uranium Exchange - Source

Iran is in discussions with six world powers, including Russia, about the exchange of enriched uranium for natural ore, a diplomatic source said Tuesday.

VIENNA (Sputnik) – "It is [being] discussed that one of the parties will take the excess enriched uranium and supply natural ore. One of the parties in discussions is Russia, but there are others," the source told RIA Novosti.

In mid-June, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik that Moscow and Tehran were close to reaching an agreement on the removal of excess nuclear material from Iran.

In May, he announced Russia’s readiness to consider alternative scenarios of transporting excess nuclear material from Iran to Russia, pending the clarification of Tehran’s position on the issue.

The source in the Austrian capital, where the delegates are working against a self-imposed deadline to reach a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program by midnight on Tuesday, did not rule out the possibility that Tehran might enter the controlled enriched uranium sales market.

"If France or the United States agree, it may be possible," the source said of the two key members of the so-named P5+1 group of negotiators in Vienna.

In April, when the P5+1 and Iran reached a framework agreement in Lausanne, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proclaimed the country’s readiness to join the global nuclear fuel market, selling enriched uranium in exchange for natural uranium.