Iran Determined to be Nuclear Fuel Exporter

Louis Charbonneau, Reuters:

Iran, accused by Washington of developing nuclear weapons, is determined to become one of the world's suppliers of nuclear fuel, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, last year proposed a five-year moratorium on the creation of new nuclear fuel production facilities around the world, which would include Iran's uranium enrichment facilities.

But Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran's delegation to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said such a moratorium would be tantamount to handing the world's few existing nuclear fuel suppliers a monopoly.

"The five-year moratorium proposed by ElBaradei is equal to exclusivity of supply," Naseri told Reuters in a telephone interview. ...