Iran warns it will make its own nuclear fuel

Iran has given a warning that the west has until the end of the month to accept Tehran's counterproposal to a UN-drafted plan on a nuclear deal, or the country will start producing nuclear fuel on its own.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country "has given an ultimatum", and that there is only one month left. Iran dismissed a 2009 deadline imposed by the West, for it to accept the UN-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

The deal would have reduced Iran's stockpile of low enriched uranium, limiting its capabilities to make nuclear weapons.

Instead, Tehran came up with a counter-proposal, to have the West either sell nuclear fuel to Iran, or swap its nuclear fuel for Iran's enriched uranium in smaller batches instead of at once as the UN plan called for.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, seen here in November 2009.(AFP/File/Atta Kenare)