Iran Might Go Back to France For Uranium Enrichment

Al Jazeera reported that there was a draft document circulating in Vienna today that might allow Iran and France to hammer out a deal to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) for Iran's medical research reactor. Having earlier rejected France for not going through with a deal to supply HEU, Iran might contract with Russia to enrich Iran's low enriched uranium (LEU) into fuel rods, and then Russia would sub-contract with France.

Earlier this year, Iran promised to export close to 75% of its LEU to France for reprocessing, and avoided harsher UN sanctions. However, Iran said it would process its own HEU if the current talks in Vienna do not yield a satisfactory result, and Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Iran will not give up its "legal and obvious" right to nuclear technology.