  Middle East  Western hopes of nuclear progress dashed by
Tehran offer  Iran has said it is ready to start uranium fuel-
swaps to assuage concerns in the West about its nuclear
enrichment activities, but insisted they take place
instantaneously and on its own territory, making rejection of
the plan by Washington and its allies a near certainty.  The
offer constituted the country's first official response to the
terms of potential diplomatic deal, tabled four months ago.
Conveyed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it
saw Iran handing much of its low-level enriched uranium to
foreign countries which, after a period of up to a year, would
return it after further enrichment in the form of fuel rods for
a research reactor. Because the counter-proposal from Tehran
falls so far short of what the West is expecting, there seemed
little chance it would allow for further progress. Instead
pressure for tough new sanctions on Iran is likely to grow at
the UN although China again voiced reticence yesterday.