A senior US official said on Tuesday he did not rule out a resumption of talks on a stalled nuclear fuel swap with Iran, but made clear Tehran must also engage on broader concerns. Iran's nuclear energy chief had urged major powers on Monday to restart talks on the plan to provide fuel to a Tehran medical reactor in exchange for some of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) stockpile – potential bomb material if refined to a high level. But US Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said “the facts on the ground” had changed since a tentative agreement on the issue struck last year, only to crumble soon afterwards. He was referring to Iran's effort to enrich uranium to a higher grade and boost its reserves of the strategic material. “I'm not ruling anything in or out,” he told reporters when asked about Monday's call by Ali Akbar Salehi at the annual assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “They had an offer before them. They did not respond favourably to the offer. The facts on the ground have changed. They need to do something,” said Poneman, who took part in last year's fuel negotiations with Iran. ‘Changed Reality' “We believe it is very important that they should engage on the wider sweep of issues,” he added, alluding to talks between Iran and six world powers last year that were aimed at yielding a halt to Iran's secretive enrichment activity in exchange for trade and diplomatic benefits, but stalled. “We need to make sure that any engagement is in the context of that changed reality and the wider security requirements...” Western diplomats voice concern that even if Iran re-enters negotiations about an exchange of atomic fuel, it may still refuse to address broader issues of peaceful guarantees and transparency regarding its nuclear program. Iran has repeatedly rejected international demands to shut down all enrichment-related activities, saying it has a sovereign right to atomic energy, and has refused to provided unfettered access for UN nuclear inspectors. Enriched uranium can fuel nuclear power plants or, if refined to a high level of purity, provide bomb material. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, addressing the same news conference, said: “We are always interested in re-engaging Iran but...we want to make sure Iran is sincere about these talks.” Last October the United States, France and Russia brokered a deal with the UN nuclear watchdog which at the time would have divested Iran of 70 percent of its LEU stockpile in return for fuel for the medical reactor helping cancer patients. Regarded at the time by world powers as a prospective confidence-building step as Iran would ship out material which could be used to make a bomb, the deal fell apart after Tehran backed away from the initial terms for an atomic fuel swap. Western officials have questioned the value of doing this swap now, as Brazil and Turkey have suggested, because Iran has since more than doubled its LEU stockpile and started higher enrichment, a further potential step towards arms
