Vienna nuclear talks held for third day

Iran and the world powers have resumed a third round of talks in Vienna on a deal to supply highly-enriched uranium for an Iranian research reactor.

The meeting began at 11:15 am (0915 GMT) at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the presence of delegations from Iran, France, Russia and the United States as well as the IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei.

It is expected that the Wednesday talks would be the final day of discussions after the sides involved failed to make a breakthrough on Monday and Tuesday.

After the removal of France from the list of potential suppliers of highly-enriched uranium to Iran, nuclear talks were rescheduled and held on Tuesday with a delay.

Iran removed France from the list of potential suppliers as Tehran says Paris has failed to deliver nuclear materials in the past.

Press TV revealed that a diplomatic source close to the negotiations said that according to the draft of the deal -which was handed out by ElBaradei on Tuesday morning-, France was not included as a potential supplier.

"The elimination of France from the deal's draft is certain," the source said.

However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero on Tuesday said that the French delegation had participated in the meeting.

"It is a meeting of experts, in which we are participating," Valero said. "There are many technical parameters to take into account for the supply of nuclear fuel and we will see later which states will take part."

On Tuesday, ElBaradei hailed "progress" in nuclear talks despite it being slower than expected and expressed hope that an agreement would be reached.

Tehran requires uranium enriched to 20 percent for its research reactor, which produces isotopes for medical purposes.

Western countries have proposed that Tehran trade its low-level uranium with higher level. However, Iran wants to buy the fuel rather than exchanging it.

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Shirzadian, said Monday that should the Vienna talks fail, Tehran would enrich uranium to the required level.

"If the negotiations do not yield the desired results, we will write a letter and announce to the IAEA that Iran will act directly to supply the fuel for the Tehran reactor," he said.