**Iran is due to respond to a UN proposal on exporting most of its enriched uranium to Russia for further refining.**The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) draft agreement is aimed at reducing international concern over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Under the deal, Iran would get the fuel it needs for its reactor but not have enough uranium to make a bomb.
The plan was handed to Iran following talks in Vienna between the UN, Iran, France, Russia and the US.
On Wednesday, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said he was feeling “optimistic” after the Vienna talks, which he said had been “very constructive”.
ANALYSIS
Jon Leyne, BBC Tehran correspondentThere has been no word yet from Iran on whether it accepts the key element of the deal - shipping enriched uranium out of the country.A prominent conservative, the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, has said he is opposed to the idea - that shows how difficult it could be for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to sell this deal to hardliners in Tehran, even if he wants to.
The main Iranian negotiator has said the deal is a test of the West’s commitment to using nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The West will see it exactly the opposite - a test of Iran’s intentions.
If a deal is reached it would help the wider negotiations move forward, no deal would make it very hard for the talks to continue. Perhaps more likely is an ambiguous answer from Iran, and another attempt to play for time.
He said the draft agreement “reflects a balanced approach to how to move forward”.
“Everybody at the meeting was trying to help, trying to look to the future and not to the past, trying to heal the wounds that existed for many years,” he said.
Guarantees
Russian nuclear industry insiders have told the BBC the proposed process would involve Iran sending its uranium to the IAEA, which would forward it to Russia for enriching.
The enriched uranium would then be returned to the IAEA and sent to France, which has the technology to add the “cell elements” needed for Iran’s reactor, they said.
This process would enable Iran to obtain enough enriched uranium for its research reactor, but not enough to produce a weapon.
Exporting uranium has been seen as a way for Iran to get the fuel it needs, while giving guarantees to the West that it will not be used for nuclear weapons.
Iranian chief negotiator Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh talked positively about a deal, but did not mention uranium export.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and that it has the right to enrich uranium.
Western states believe it is attempting to develop a nuclear weapons programme.