Iran willing to send uranium abroad - President Ahmadinejad

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is willing to send its uranium abroad, in comments cautiously welcomed yesterday by world powers as a possible sign Tehran might accept a UN-brokered nuclear fuel deal.

Iran would have "no problem" sending out its stocks of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to be further purified into reactor fuel, Mr Ahmadinejad said in a television interview late on Tuesday.

His comments came ahead of an expected meeting of world powers on possible new sanctions against Tehran and after the expiry of a January 31 ultimatum for the West to accept Iran's conditions for a nuclear fuel swop.

"There is really no problem. Some made a fuss for nothing. There is no problem. We sign a contract. We give them (world powers) 3.5 per cent (enriched uranium) and it will take four or five months for them to give us the 20 per cent (enriched uranium)," Mr Ahmadinejad said in a live interview on state television.

Russia, Iran's main nuclear trader, welcomed Mr Ahmadinejad's latest remarks.

"If Iran is ready to come back to the original agreement (UN-drafted deal) we can only welcome it," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow. Britain, meanwhile, said it would be a "positive sign" by Iran if it were prepared to take up an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) offer to ship some uranium abroad, but stressed talks remain "the crucial issue."

"If Iran is willing to take up the IAEA's proposed offer, it would be a positive sign of their willingness to engage with the international community on nuclear issues," the Foreign Office said.

But it "does not change" the need for Iran to hold further talks with three European Union countries and China, United States and Russia, it added.

The United States reacted cautiously, saying Tehran should submit a formal offer of the deal to international authorities.

"If Mr Ahmadinejad's comments reflect an updated Iranian position, we look forward to Iran informing the IAEA," White House official Mike Hammer said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said yesterday that it was "urgent" to continue negotiations, while German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said it was now up to Tehran to make a "concrete" offer to the IAEA.

Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi stressed that talks were still "ongoing" and there was "no final agreement" regarding the deal.

The twists and turns of Iran's nuclear fuel deal

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran has "no problem" in shipping out its uranium stocks abroad, setting off a fresh twist in the controversial nuclear fuel deal.

Here are key twists and turns in Iran's position since the deal was first discussed on October 19 after talks between the United States, Russia, France and Iran.

October 21

• Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, calls the proposal, which is also backed by most world powers, "very positive."

October 24

• Parliament speaker Ali Larijani calls the deal an attempt to "cheat" Iran.

October 26

• Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Iran is mulling the deal and "may deliver a part of our (low-enriched uranium, or LEU) fuel that we don't need."

October 29

• Mr Ahmadinejad says conditions are ripe for a deal because Western policy has gone from "confrontation to cooperation."

November 2

• Iran calls for a review of the deal.

November 18

• Mr Mottaki says Iran will not send its LEU abroad, and says Tehran was ready to "consider swapping the fuel simultaneously in Iran."

November 24

• Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Tehran is ready to send its LEU abroad provided there is simultaneous exchange on its own soil of nuclear fuel processed by world powers.

November 29

• UN nuclear watchdog censures Tehran for secretly building second uranium enrichment plant.

November 30

• Mr Ahmadinejad declares Iran will enrich uranium to 20 per cent and also build 10 new uranium enrichment plants.

December 2

• Mr Ahmadinejad reiterates in the central city of Isfahan that the "Iranian nation will by itself make the 20 per cent (nuclear) fuel (enriched uranium) and whatever it needs."

December 6

• Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran will not be isolated by Western powers.

December 8

• Mr Mehmanparast says Iran "ready" to do nuclear fuel deal if Western powers can provide conditions that can gain our trust."

December 12

• Mr Mottaki proposes Tehran swap 400 kilos of LEU for nuclear fuel in an exchange on the Gulf island of Kish as the first phase of a deal with world powers.

December 14

• Mr Mottaki says Iran does not insist on exchanging its low-enriched uranium for fuel for a research nuclear reactor on its own territory after the United States bluntly dismissed the offer.

December 18

• Mr Ahmadinejad says Iran is ready to strike a deal if the United States and the West respect the Islamic republic and stop making threats.

December 19

• Mr Mottaki says Iran is ready to examine proposals from other parties for procuring nuclear fuel.

December 21

• Mr Mottaki says Iran will produce itself the fuel required for the research reactor.

December 22

• Mr Ahmadinejad rejects a year-end deadline set by the United States to accept the UN-brokered deal.

December 29

• Mr Mehmanparast says Iran is ready to swap abroad its LEU for nuclear fuel in several stages as a move that could "build confidence" between the West and Iran.

January 2

• Mr Mottaki gives the West a one-month "ultimatum" to accept a uranium swap, warning it will produce its own nuclear fuel for a Tehran reactor if there is no deal.

January 20

• Mr Mehmanparast says Iran ready for gradual swapping of uranium.

January 24

• Mr Ahmadinejad hints Iran was determined to enrich uranium to 20 per cent level if Western powers fail to accept Tehran's counter-proposal concerning a UN-brokered nuclear fuel deal.

January 26

• Mr Khamenei says Iran will not succumb to "blackmail" by world powers, just days ahead of a deadline given by Tehran over a nuclear fuel deal.

"We will not be blackmailed. Our people are standing firm for their rights and will not back down," he says.

January 30

• Mr Mottaki says "new ideas" on the supply of nuclear fuel to Iran were raised in talks with French and Brazilian officials in Davos, adding Tehran's own ideas on the exchange of its LEU for higher-enriched fuel remain on the table.

February 2

• Mr Ahmadinejad says he sees "no problem" in delivering Iran's LEU to Western powers.