A nuclear fuel swap inside Iran, as proposed by the Islamic Republic, is "not an option," the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said Wednesday.
A nuclear fuel swap inside Iran , as proposed by the Islamic Republic, is "not an option," the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said Wednesday.

"I don't think that is an option. The whole purpose of the deal is to defuse the crisis," ElBaradei told reporters, referring to a deal he had brokered on the supply of nuclear fuel to a research reactor in Tehran .

Iran and world powers have been at loggerheads for weeks, failing to reach a nuclear fuel deal aimed at allaying Western concerns over Tehran 's nuclear program.

The West, led by the U.S., fears Iran might otherwise covertly divert its low-enriched uranium for further enrichment to the much higher levels required for a bomb, an ambition Iranian officials strongly deny.

In a deal brokered last month by ElBaradei , Iran was offered to ship out most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium for further processing by Russia and France so that it can be turned into the fuel needed for the research reactor, which makes radio-isotopes for medical use.

Uranium enrichment is at the heart of the long-running standoff over Iran 's nuclear activities, because the material can be used to power nuclear reactors as well as to make the core of an atom bomb.

But Iran is reluctant to let go of its uranium, insisting on a "100% guarantee" that it would in fact receive the fuel required for its research reactor.

"One of the guarantees is a simultaneous exchange of fuel inside the country," said Iran 's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast Tuesday.

ElBaradei said Wednesday that there were "a number of built-in guarantees in the agreement."

The International Atomic Energy Agency "will take custody and control of the material. We've offered also to have the material in Turkey , a country which has the trust of all the parties," he said.

"But you need to move the material from Iran to defuse the crisis and open the space for negotiation. So, what we are asking Iran is to take a minimum risk for peace and to have an agreement not based on distrust but based on trust."

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