Kouchner sees negative response

Occupied Jerusalem: Iran appears set on rejecting a UN-drafted deal with world powers designed to deny it the means to produce nuclear weapons-grade uranium, French Foreign Bernard Kouchner said in comments published on Sunday.

Under last month's proposal, Iran would export some 75 per cent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad to be turned into fuel for a Tehran research reactor. Diplomats said Iran's counter-offer would leave it enough LEU to convert into bomb material, a non-starter for France and the United States.

Asked by an Israeli newspaper whether a final Iranian decision was pending, France's Kouchner said: "You could phrase it that way, but in effect the answer has almost been given already, and it is negative. That's a shame, a shame, a shame.

"We demanded to take a large quantity of (LEU) because we do not want them, while we are enriching uranium on their behalf, to continue themselves enriching uranium which could one day be used for military purposes," he told Yedioth Ahronoth daily.