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ISTANBUL : Iran is ready to start immediately talks with Western powers over a nuclear fuel swap deal it signed in May, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Sunday.
Tehran's desire for talks will be conveyed in a letter it will hand over to the UN atomic agency on Monday in response to the questions raised by the Vienna group -- the United States, Russia and France -- on the swap deal, Mottaki told reporters here.
"Tomorrow this...letter will be conveyed to the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) in Vienna and then we can immediately start negotiations for the details of exchanging of the fuel," he said in English.
"All the details on how that exchange should take place will come out through the discussions and talks in Vienna," he added.
Under the deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil on May 17, Iran agreed to send 1,200 kilogrammes of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Turkey to be supplied at a later date with high-enriched uranium by Russia and France.
But it was immediately cold-shouldered by world powers, which backed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran on June 9 over its refusal to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment programme.
The Vienna group raised several questions regarding the deal, but said they were nonetheless ready to talk to Iran to clear up the doubts.
Mottaki, who was speaking after talks with his Turkish and Brazilian counterparts Ahmet Davutoglu and Celso Amorim, said Iran would like to see both of these countries take part in the talks, but said it was not a condition.
"The Vienna group talks with Iran either with the presence of Turkey and Brazil or not," he said.
Earlier, Davutoglu said that Turkey and Brazil were ready to contribute to the talks only if they were invited by all the parties concerned while Brazil's Amorim called on Iran to adopt a facilitating attitude in its dealings with the Vienna group.
"We have always encouraged Iran to take a flexible position," he said. "We want to preserve Iran's right for a peaceful nuclear programme, but at the same time give guarantees to the world in general that this programme has no military implications."
Mottaki gave few details on the response Iran would hand to the IAEA, saying that it would contain Tehran's "own views and what we will talk about in Vienna."
Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday that Tehran's response would be a general one and that the technical response to the Vienna group's questions would be "discussed probably in a meeting", without saying when it would take place.
Mottaki reiterated that Iran was ready to resume talks with the P5+1 group of world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- on its overall nuclear programme after the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Davutoglu said after the talks could take place "possibly around the second week of September".
"What we told the parties right from the start is for these negotiations to take place at once and for the parties to discuss all issues in the most transparent and open manner," he added.
Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ordered a freeze on the nuclear talks with P5+1 group until the end of August.
Last week, Mottaki and the European Union's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the P5+1, said the talks could resume in September.
The latest UN sanctions were followed by unilateral punitive measures from Washington, and the European Union will on Monday impose similar measures targeting Iran's energy sector.
Ahmadinejad warned the 27-nation bloc on Sunday that his country would react to the measures swiftly and cause "remorse".
Western powers have demanded that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, which they fear masks a nuclear weapons drive. Tehran insists its atomic programme is peaceful. - AFP/fa
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