FM: Iran to produce nuclear fuel if West fails to supply

TEHRAN, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday that the country would produce high-level nuclear fuel for its research reactor if Western countries refuse to provide the supply, the satellite Press TV reported.

"We set the time (for the West) to make a decision about supplying the fuel needed for the Tehran research reactor," Mottaki said in a press conference.

"If a logical decision is not made in a timely manner about its purchase or exchange, Iran will produce the fuel ... We will not wait any longer," he was quoted as saying.

Last week, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast rejected a nuclear swap deadline set by the United States, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that December is "a very real deadline" for Iran to "pursue its responsibilities" for the nuclear issue.

Under a draft deal brokered by the UN nuclear watchdog, most of Iran's existing low-level enriched uranium would be shipped to Russia and France by the end of the year, where it would be processed into fuel rods with the purity of 20 percent.

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

Iran has rejected the deal, demanding a simultaneous exchange of low and high-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 civilian nuclear power. Iran has denied the accusation and stressed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

The United States has threatened another round of UN sanctions against Iran if it does not abide by the year-end deadline.