Senior Iran MP casts doubt on atom fuel deal

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian lawmaker rejected on Thursday the idea of sending low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing, casting doubt on a proposal aimed at easing international tension over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The comment came a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog presented a draft deal to Iran and three world powers for approval within two days to reduce Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium, seen by the West as a nuclear weapons risk.

"They (the West) tell us: you give us your 3.5 percent enriched uranium and we will give you the fuel for the reactor. It is not acceptable to us," parliament's deputy speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

"The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is obliged to provide us with the fuel based on the safeguards," he said.

Iran has yet to give an official reaction to the plan submitted by the IAEA Agency after talks this week in Vienna.

Western diplomats said it would require Tehran to send 1.2 tonnes of its known 1.5-tonne reserve of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France by the end of the year. The material would be converted into fuel for a nuclear medicine facility in Tehran.

Iran's IAEA envoy has hinted that his government may seek amendments. Western diplomats suggested this could jeopardize the deal if they overstepped "red lines" set to create confidence that Tehran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons option.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Philippa Fletcher)