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He said talks on this issue with the so-called Vienna group comprising the United States, Russia and France will be held in Vienna, where the UN atomic watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is based.

The Vienna group has raised questions about a proposal forwarded by Iran, Brazil and Turkey concerning a fuel swap.

The May 17 proposal, known as the Tehran Declaration, stipulates that Tehran send 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Turkey in return for 20 percent high-enriched uranium to be supplied at a later date.

The 20 percent enriched uranium, when converted into fuel plates, will be used as fuel for a Tehran-based research reactor.

Salehi said Iran has already responded to the questions raised by the Vienna group, but that any other “technical” queries can be answered during another meeting.

The Tehran Declaration was Iran’s counter-proposal to an earlier plan drafted by the IAEA for a fuel swap deal.

After that plan hit deadlock, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Salehi to produce 20 percent enriched uranium inside the country, in defiance of world powers which want Tehran to stop the sensitive process.

Enriching uranium is at the heart of controversy over Iran’s nuclear program because the material can be used to power nuclear reactors as well as to make atom bombs.

Experts say that by enriching uranium to 20 percent, Iran has theoretically come closer to enriching it to the 90 percent purity required for making nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies that its uranium enrichment program has any military goals. But the world powers which dismiss Tehran’s arguments have gone ahead and levied new sanctions against Iran.

“We need 20 percent fuel for the Tehran research reactor at the moment,” Salehi said. “We have said before that we are producing 20 percent only for our needs. We do not want to stockpile 20 percent fuel.”

China disapproves of EU sanctions against Iran

China said on Friday that it did not approve of tougher new sanctions imposed by the European Union on Iran, and welcomed Tehran’s offer to return to negotiations on a nuclear fuel swap without conditions.

EU foreign ministers agreed tougher sanctions on Iran on Monday, including action to block oil and gas investment.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that China still hoped to solve the thorny issues surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions through negotiations.

“China does not approve of the European Union’s unilateral sanctions on Iran,” Jiang said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

“We hope that all relevant parties can support a diplomatic solution and appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations.”

China also denounced the United States earlier this month for imposing its own sanctions on Iran, saying Washington should not unilaterally take such steps outside of U.N. resolutions.

Jiang said in her statement that she welcomed a new Iranian offer to discuss a fuel swap for a Tehran reactor and hoped it would be helpful to efforts to solve “the Iran nuclear issue through talks and negotiations”.

Iran was reported this week to have handed a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saying that it would return without conditions to talks about a nuclear fuel swap for the Tehran reactor, which makes medical isotopes.

A deal struck in principle with Russia, France and the United States would have seen Iran send some of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for specially processed fuel rods needed to keep the Tehran reactor running.

Meanwhile, Israel, which won’t confirm or deny whether it has atomic weapons, sees a potentially nuclear armed Iran as a threat to its existence and has not ruled out a pre-emptive strike. Washington has also said military action is not ruled out.