TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s announcement that Iran is willing to send its uranium abroad was cautiously welcomed by world powers on Wednesday as a 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 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 Jan 31 ultimatum for the West to accept Iran’s conditions for a nuclear fuel swap.

“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 live 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 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.’ The offer “does not change” the need for Iran to hold further talks with three European Union countries and China, United States and Russia, it added.—AFP