Iran considered the negotations on the deal, being held under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, as purely technical, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers this merely (a) technical meeting between Iran and IAEA and we expect that our technical and economic concerns will be taken into consideration when dealing with the modalities of supply of nuclear fuel for Tehran research reactor," Soltanieh said.

"As a representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to these negotiations, I am entrusted to make every effort that these technical and economic concerns will be taken into consideration during negotiations and to be realised during negotations in Vienna."

Under the terms of the uranium enrichment deal put forward by the IAEA and already approved by western countries, Tehran will export to Russia more than 1,200 kilos (2,640 pounds) of its 3.5 percent low-enriched uranium (LEU) for refining up to 20 percent purity to fuel the Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes.

France would then fashion the material into the fuel rods for the reactor.

Iran had originally been expected to respond to the deal by last Friday but delayed it amid conflicting views on it from its senior officials who are largely of the opinion that Tehran must transport its LEU in batches rather than all at once.