By Anoush Maleki

Iran has put forward a new plan to acquire ready-made fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor; an arrangement that would both safeguard its national interests and address Western concerns about its nuclear program, diplomats say.

Experts close to nuclear negotiations told Press TV on Sunday that the pact would envisage a two-staged, simultaneous exchange under which the UN nuclear watchdog, for each phase, seals 400 kg of Tehran's low enriched uranium (LEU) inside the Iranian territory.

The supply would be kept sealed by the UN agency until the 20 percent enriched uranium required by the research reactor is delivered to the exchange site, the experts said.

Western officials are yet to reply to the new proposal, they added.

In mid-October, representatives from Iran, nuclear negotiators from France, Russia and the United States and experts from the UN nuclear watchdog met in Vienna and discussed a proposal that sought to commit Tehran to ship out most of its nuclear supply.

Tehran has run an enrichment program, in the facility in the central city of Natanz, to provide nuclear fuel for its under construction power plants — such as the one being built with the help of Russia in the southern city of Bushehr.

Meanwhile, world powers, namely Britain, France, Germany and the United States — under the pressure from the gang in Tel Aviv — claim that the Iranian government is hell-bent on producing nuclear weaponry.

Although the accusation is yet to be proven by any of the powers or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has been monitoring the Iranian program extensively and inspecting its facilities since 2003, the United Nations Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions resolutions against Tehran, with the approval of China and Russia solely based on the allegation.

The nuclear proposal in October also aimed to allay concerns in the West that Tehran has an amount of 1,400 kg of low enriched uranium to commence a lengthy process of enriching its uranium stockpile of less than 5 percent purity to weapons grade uranium of above 90 percent for a single nuclear warhead — IAEA figures show that as of July 31, Iran has stockpiled at least 1430 kg of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6).

According to Western leaders, an agreement over the Vienna proposal would have also displayed that Iran was committed to its international obligations and was willing to cooperate and defuse the controversy over its nuclear program.

The spirit of cooperation was in the air but the technical details did not seem rational to Iranian officials, experts said.

The draft deal wanted Iran to send 80 percent of its uranium stockpile, nearly 1,200 kg, to Russia to be further enriched and then France would convert the product into specially manufactured metal fuel rods to feed the Tehran Research Reactor.

Diplomats said Sunday that Iran only needs about 116 kg of 20-percent enriched uranium to feed its medical research reactor for years. That amount only requires 800 kg of LEU and it would take 2 to 3 months to be converted to the desired form.

Iran's first option was to directly buy the supply from any supplier. But the pressure of world powers seems to have shut the door on that as the UN nuclear watchdog is unwilling to arrange such possibility.

I have been an advocate of a compromise in a nuclear deal which has the potential to benefit both Iran and the countries that accuse it of pursuing military means by conducting covert activities within the boundaries of its nuclear program.

There was a second option. Initially put forward by the Obama administration and then backed by the Kremlin, the plan to exchange 1,200 kg of LEU and wait fifteen months to receive the final product was not welcomed by Iran.

The very reasons behind Iran's eagerness to engage with the negotiating team in Vienna were uncovered by two perspectives; the first view is that the country did not want to enrich its own uranium to feed the medical research reactor for economical reasons.

The second cause lies in the fact that Iran too wanted to show its cooperation with the international community over its nuclear program, which it says is directed at the civilian applications of the technology.

Because of this willingness, Iran has taken the initiative to follow up on the preliminary proposal and offer its own revision of it.

Under the new pitch, Iran will have the guarantee that not only the parties to the deal would deliver on their promise and would actually supply the country with the fuel — unlike their previous nuclear arrangements — but also the shipment would arrive in a timely manner.

The West, meanwhile, can see its own wish come true in paring down Iran's uranium stockpile, even though the government in Tehran insists that it is against producing, storing and using nuclear weapons or any other forms of weapons of mass destruction.

With this arrangement, Iran seeks to demonstrate its willingness to engage the West in a pragmatic path; in a method that could pave the way for Tehran and the world powers to find a common purpose in developing and prospering.

But all is possible if a compromise is made. Iran has done its part, now it is time for the West.

President Obama, who on the anniversary of the US Embassy takeover in Tehran once again expressed his desire to build a connection with Iran based on mutual respect and interests, has a chance that he really must conquer.

As his popularity slips further down because of a still ailing economy, two unpopular wars in far away countries, and domestic disputes with the Republicans who fear their country is headed to socialism, the first African-American president in the United States needs a win.

And what triumph better than making up with a 30-year-old adversary.