Diplomats from Russia, France and the United States were set Friday afternoon to jointly submit their formal approvals of a deal to process Iran"s nuclear fuel abroad, DPA qouted a diplomat of one of the countries as saying. It was not immediately clear when Iran would provide its answer to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, which has drafted the plan to ship most of Iran"s enriched uranium to Russia to turn it into fuel for a medical reactor in Tehran. A French Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Thursday that his country stands ready to take the material processed in Russia and turn it into actual fuel elements for Iran. The Western countries involved have described the possible agreement as an important confidence-building measure, because it would reduce the likelihood for Iran to use the uranium for nuclear weapons. Iran denies it has any such military intentions. -- SPA
