Iran's acceptance of IAEA deal to be welcomed: Russian FM

MOSCOW, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Russia would welcome Iran's acceptance of a draft uranium enrichment deal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

"If Iran is willing to revert to the plan agreed upon earlier, we will only welcome this," Lavrov said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday in a TV interview that Iran had "no problem" with the U.N. plan to ship Iran's uranium stocks abroad for further enrichment.

"We will seal a contract and we will give you 3.5 percent uranium to enrich it to 20 percent in four or five months and return it to us," said the president as quoted by news agencies.

Lavrov said the information needed to be verified.

Under the draft deal, most of Iran's existing low-grade enriched uranium would be shipped to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods. The higher-level enriched uranium would then be transported back to Iran.

Iran so far has not officially responded to the deal. Instead, it demanded a simultaneous exchange between low and higher level enriched uranium inside the country.

The United States and its Western allies have been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of a civilian program. Iran has denied the accusation and stressed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.