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International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei (L) walks with Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh (R) as he arrives at Imam Khomeini International airport, 35 km (22 miles) south of Tehran October 3, 2009. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran wants more talks on a U.N.-drafted nuclear proposal, including guarantees that it will receive the reactor fuel, Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday.
Iran has signaled that it wants fundamental changes to the draft deal, in which it would send most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for further processing to turn it into more refined fuel for a Tehran research reactor.
The plan, backed by the other participants -- Russia, France and the United States -- aims to reduce Iran's LEU stockpile below the minimum quantity that could be turned into the highly enriched uranium needed for a nuclear bomb.
But Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters more talks were needed "in order to ensure that our technical concerns and especially the issue of the guarantee of the fuel supply are taken into consideration."
"We are ready for the next round of technical discussions in Vienna at the IAEA headquarters," he said, adding that the IAEA should now arrange a suitable date.
Soltanieh gave the IAEA Iran's initial response to the draft deal on Friday after talks in Vienna on October 19-21 with the three big powers.
"We are ready to buy the fuel from any supplier under the full scope of safeguards and surveillance of the IAEA," Soltanieh said.
Western diplomats say Iran has also asked to receive fuel for the Tehran reactor before shipping out any of its own low-enriched uranium.
They say the Iranian demands are unacceptable because the deal in this form would not lessen Iran's capacity to build an atomic weapon if it chose to do so, something the West fears due to Iran's history of nuclear secrecy.
The Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is for peaceful electricity generation only.
(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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