Tehran awaits swift response to nuclear swap deal

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TEHRAN, May 18 (AFP): Iran said Tuesday it expects a swift response from world powers on an accord to ship much of its low enriched uranium to Turkey, as UN Security Council member China backed the swap deal.
The accord signed with Turkey and Brazil has "checkmated" US efforts to slap new sanctions on Tehran over its controversial atomic programme, an Iranian government-owned newspaper said.
Iran will notify the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the accord "in writing, through the usual channels, within a week," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
"We expect members of the Vienna group (the United States, France, Russia and the IAEA) to quickly announce their readiness" to implement the fuel swap, he told reporters.
The IAEA said it has received the text of the joint declaration by Iran, Brazil and Turkey but was now expecting Tehran to notify it directly of what commitments it had undertaken.
The so-called Vienna Group made an offer last October to ship most of Iran's LEU out of the country in return for higher grade reactor fuel to be supplied by Russia and France.
Iran stalled on the deal insisting it wanted a simultaneous swap on its own soil, a proposal rejected by world powers.
Tehran, already under three sets of UN sanctions over its defiant nuclear drive, has touted the agreement as a goodwill gesture which paves the way for a resumption of talks with world powers.
Despite scepticism in the West, especially the United States and Europe, China came out in support of the deal on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Mininster Ahmet Davutoglu called on Western powers Tuesday not to weaken the chances of a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran with talk of new sanctions.
"With the agreement yesterday, an important psychological threshold has been crossed towards establishing mutual trust," Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul a day after the deal was signed in Tehran.
"Sanctions, the discussions on sanctions will spoil the atmosphere and the escalation of statements may provoke the Iranian public opinion," he added.