"It did not elaborate but added that Tehran will offer its response to the deal within the next "48 hours".
Iran to accept nuclear fuel deal but wants key changes
TEHRAN, Oct 27, 2009 (AFP) - Iran will accept the broad framework of a UN-brokered uranium deal but wants "very important changes," state television said Tuesday, adding Tehran will offer its formal response within 48 hours.
The United States, meanwhile, said six world powers have held talks in a bid to maintain pressure on Iran to come clean on its controversial nuclear programme.
Two influential Iranian MPs also expressed optimism over the deal and indicated Iran could endorse it, a day after Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran may ship part of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) for conversion into fuel.
"Iran will accept the broad framework of the deal, but wants very important changes in it," state-owned Arabic language Al-Alam TV channel said, quoting a source close to Tehran's nuclear negotiating team.
It did not elaborate but added that Tehran will offer its response to the deal within the next "48 hours".
France has said the UN-drafted deal calls for Tehran to hand over 1,200 kilos of its LEU to Russia for further higher processing and later to be converted into fuel as required for a Tehran research reactor.
World powers have backed this proposal as they want Iran's LEU shipped out of the country amid suspicion that it is intended to be used in the making of atomic weapons. Tehran says its atomic programme is for peaceful purposes only.
Enrichment of uranium is the most controversial aspect of Iran's nuclear project as enriched uranium can be used as fuel for powering civilian nuclear reactors or to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.
The UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), drafted the deal during Vienna talks held between Iran, Russia, France and the United States earlier this month.
Iran was to give its response to the deal last Friday but delayed it to this week amid initial stiff opposition from top officials, including parliament speaker Ali Larijani who said the West was trying to "cheat" Iran.
On Monday, Mottaki in a first official response said Iran could ship "part" of its LEU abroad as per the deal, although buying the fuel directly from a foreign supplier was still an option.
Influential lawmaker Alaeddin Borujerdi, who heads parliament's powerful national security and foreign policy committee, said on Tuesday that Iran should hand over its LEU in batches as it would help in "confidence-building" with world powers.
"We provide part of 3.5 percent enriched uranium to the party in the deal and once we receive the 20 percent, we give another batch of 3.5 percent," Borujerdi was quoted as saying by ILNA news agency.
"In other words not all the fuel will be handed over in one batch."
Iran is estimated to have 1,500 kilos of LEU at its uranium enrichment plant in the central city of Natanz, produced in defiance of three sets of UN sanctions.
A member of Borujerdi's committee, lawmaker Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, said the deal would be beneficial to all parties.
"The talks in Vienna between Iran, the IAEA, US and Russia is a win-win deal for Iran ... and due to the exerted efforts by the two sides ... the deal is a win-win for both the sides," he said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
The United States said world powers spoke on Monday of the need to maintain united pressure on Iran.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said representatives from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany had spoken by telephone.
"They discussed the need for unity of the P5 plus one in our approach to the issue of Iran's nuclear programme," he said.
Kelly also indicated on Monday that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was in the process of trying to line up another meeting between the P5+1 group and Iran.
The six powers held their first meeting in 15 months with Iran in Geneva on October 1 to allay their concerns over Tehran's atomic programme.
