Russia, U.S. satisfied with Iranian nuclear-fuel talks: Kremlin

MOSCOW, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama spoke highly of the progress made at the just-concluded nuclear-fuel talks held in Vienna, said the Kremlin in a press release on Saturday.

The two leaders held a telephone conversation, during which Obama said Russia had played a decisive role on the positive outcome of the expert-level consultations.

Medvedev in response praised the significance of the U.S. readiness to provide written guarantees for an exchange of uranium for fuel for a research reactor proposed jointly by Russia and the United States.

The two presidents also discussed progress in the Geneva talks on nuclear arsenal cut, expressing satisfaction with the active dialogue between the two delegations and the current level of mutual understanding.

They also believed that a new treaty on strategic arms reduction can be ready by early December, when the current one expires.

The nuclear-fuel talks held in Vienna among the United States, Russia, France and Iran concluded on Wednesday without a final agreement but a proposal from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be mulled.

The IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei proposed, the enriched uranium with a higher purity needed for research reactor in Iran would be produced abroad.

On Friday when the final answer shall be given, the United States, Russia and France have all voiced their agreement to the proposal. Iran said it would respond next week.

On Oct. 1, in the talks between Iran and a UN-backed group of six nations, the United States, Britain, Russia, France, Germany and China in Geneva, Iran agreed in principle to ship most of its existing low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods with a purity of 20 percent.

The enriched uranium would be transported back to Iran to be used in a research reactor for the manufacture of medical radioisotopes.