Igniting the ongoing dispute regarding the accumulation of low-enriched uranium (LEU) with the western countries, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday has asked Iran's Atomic Energy Organization to start working on nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor.

Western countries want Iran to send most of its accumulation of low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad. This they wanted to come as a return for higher-refined fuel for the Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes. Country’s nuclear chief has finally been asked to initiate enriching uranium to 20%. This statement came following the US and European Union’s belief that Iran must make a significant offer or it would have to face new sanctions consequently.

Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech, "We had told them (the West) to come and have a swap, although we could produce the 20 percent enriched fuel ourselves. We gave them two-to-three months' time for such a deal. They started a new game and now I (ask) Dr Salehi to start work on the production of 20 percent fuel using centrifuges," he said, referring to atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi. But the doors for interaction are still open."

On Friday, however Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, “an agreement could be reached not too distant future". But denying any type of agreement, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, "I don't have the sense that we're close to an agreement”.