Iran could agree to a UN-brokered deal to send its uranium for processing in Europe if it receives enriched uranium for its research reactor first, the official IRNA agency said on Monday.

The agency said, citing top presidential adviser Parviz Davoudi, that Iran wants to receive 20% enriched uranium for its sole operating reactor in Tehran before sending low-enriched uranium to Russia and France to be turned into fuel as proposed in the October deal.

"If we agree [with the West] on ways to exchange uranium, supplies of 20% enriched fuel [to Iran] should be carried out first. After that, we will give them our 5.3% uranium," Davoudi was quoted as saying.

The Islamic Republic, in the center of an international dispute over its nuclear ambitions, has said it wants more talks on the deal. Tehran has demanded fuel delivery guarantees and said it would like to buy enriched material directly under UN supervision.

Tehran is still to give a formal reply to the deal drafted in September after its talks with international negotiators involved in the long-running dispute. The United States and other Western nations fear Iran's nuclear program could be a cover for weapons production. Tehran says it needs nuclear technology to produce electricity.

In a bid to rescue the deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, has suggested Iran could store enriched uranium for use at Iranian atomic power plants in a neutral country, Turkey. Turkey has agreed to the proposal.

MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti)