U.S. still interested in Iran nuclear fuel offer

The U.S. State Department said on Monday it is "still interested in pursuing" a UN-supported offer to swap nuclear fuel with Iran.

"We are still interested in pursuing that offer if Iran is interested," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

"It would need to be updated because over the course of the last seven months Iran has had its centrifuges operating and one would presume has increased the amount of fuel at its disposal," he said.

The UN-brokered nuclear fuel swap deal required Iran to send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing and conversion into fuel rods for the research reactor.

Iran agreed to the IAEA-backed proposal but said it needed guarantees that the other side would deliver the fuel in a timely manner.

Source:Xinhua