Iran says needs guarantees to ship nuclear fuel

TEHRAN Nov 24 (Reuters) - Iran is not opposed to sending its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad but wants 100 percent guarantees of receiving higher-enriched fuel in return for a medical research reactor, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Nobody in Iran ever said that we are against sending 3.5 percent-enriched uranium abroad," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

"If we say we are looking for 100 percent guaranteees, it means that we want 3.5 percent enriched uranium to be sent out under such circumstances that we make sure that we will receive the 20 percent fuel," he told a news conference.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Michael Roddy)