TEHRAN -- Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee rapporteur Kazem Jalali has said that the proposed exchange of uranium should be done in Iran.

If Tehran is going to exchange some of its low-enriched uranium for 20 percent enriched uranium, this exchange should be done in Iran, he told the Mehr News Agency on Monday.
The nuclear fuel talks between Iran, Russia, the United States, and France in Vienna concluded on October 21 without a final agreement, but IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei then presented a proposal for the four countries to study.
Under the draft deal, a large consignment of Iran’s enriched uranium would be shipped out of the country for processing into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent, which would be used by a research reactor in Tehran that manufactures medical radioisotopes.
On October 23, diplomats from Russia, France, and the United States submitted their formal approvals of the deal to process Iran’s nuclear fuel abroad.
Several senior Iranian officials, including Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, have strongly criticized the deal, saying it is neither logical nor legal.
Jalali said Iran’s priority is buying the 20 percent enriched uranium from other countries, and according to the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nuclear fuel producers should provide Iran the nuclear fuel because Iran is a signatory to the NPT.
The Westerners’ demand that Iran should exchange a large consignment of its enriched uranium for the nuclear fuel is just a distraction, he added.
MP Seyyed Hossein Naqavi had said earlier that there is no guarantee that the Westerners will fulfill their commitments in the talks and Iran is right to distrust them.
There is no guarantee, and thus the proposal for a fuel exchange is out of the question, he told ISNA on Saturday