Washington has dismissed Iran"s nuclear...
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday urged the West to accept a uranium swap deal within a month, or else it would produce its own nuclear fuel.
"We set a time limit [for the West] to make a decision about supplying the fuel required by the Tehran research reactor," Mottaki said. "We will not give more time."
"The IAEA has a balanced proposal on the table that would fulfill Iran"s own request for fuel, and has the backing of the international community," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said.
Under the plan, Iran was to ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for further enrichment and processing into fuel for power plants. Iran would not thereby be able to enrich uranium to make weapons.
The United States and other Western powers have demanded that Iran halt uranium enrichment, fearing it seeks to build nuclear weapons. Tehran insists that it needs nuclear technology only to generate electricity.