Around the World: Iran

Reactor fuel sought

Iran wants to buy ready-made fuel for its research reactor, a senior Iranian envoy said yesterday - the latest indication that Teheran is rejecting a US-backed plan that would have the Islamic Republic ship most of its enriched uranium out of the country. "We want to buy the fuel from any supplier," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in Vienna.

Asked if that meant Iran was rejecting a UN plan to export most of its enriched uranium and have that material shipped back as fuel for its research reactor, Soltanieh said: "We are ready for the next round of technical discussions to make sure that our concerns ... are taken into consideration."