WASHINGTON — Iran appears to be deadlocked in talks with Russia, the United States and France on a UN-backed nuclear fuel offer for a research reactor in Tehran, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief said.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said he has thrown his support behind an idea hatched by his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, that calls for Iran to ship most of its stock of low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for further enrichment and transformation into fuel assemblies for a Tehran research reactor that produces isotopes for cancer treatment.
But Iran, Russia, France and the United States have been unable to agree on how to guarantee that Tehran will get its uranium back. Amano was asked if he thought that there was a way to bridge the differences and make the deal work.
"I don't see that indication for now," he told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of U.S. President Barack Obama's two-day summit on nuclear security.
Iran agreed to the offer in principle at a meeting in Geneva last October but balked later.
Although he was not hopeful, Amano said the offer was "still on the table."