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QUESTION: The Iranian foreign minister has said today that Iran reviewed the proposal and will definitely not send out our 3.5 percent enriched uranium. He added that means that we will consider swapping the nuclear fuel simultaneously in Iran. Do you consider this statement as a formal Iranian answer to the proposal? And what would be the next step?

MR. KELLY: This proposal was done by the IAEA in consultation with Russia, France, and the United States. We've all accepted this proposal. We have submitted a formal response to Mr. El Baradei, and this is what Iran needs to do. They need to give a formal response to El Baradei. Something that is said to the media, of course, doesn't - what was said today doesn't inspire our confidence that they're going to deliver a positive response, of course. But this is the IAEA's proposal and Iran has to give their response to the IAEA, and that's what we're waiting for. That's what the IAEA is waiting for.

QUESTION: But it's not their response, do you think?

MR. KELLY: Until the IAEA gets the response and formally says this is the - this is Iran's response, I don't consider a statement to the - to the press necessarily a response.

QUESTION: Well, Ian, are you saying that the IAEA didn't listen to what he had to say?

MR. KELLY: Oh, I'm sure they did. I'm sure they did.

QUESTION: So if you don't think that a statement to the press is any kind of a formal response, what are you doing up here every day?

MR. KELLY: I think I've heard that. I'm having a déjà vu here.

QUESTION: Yeah. Well, I'm just trying to figure it out.

MR. KELLY: I think I've heard this before.

QUESTION: I mean, if you're speaking - you know, when you speak from the podium, you're obviously giving the U.S. Government's opinion, when the Secretary speaks from the podium as well. So when the Iranian foreign minister speaks to the Iranian media, you just ignore that, pretend it never happened?

MR. KELLY: No, we don't ignore it. There was - on October 1st, there was a meeting and it was - the proposal by the IAEA was accepted in principle by all the parties, including Iran, and there was also an agreement that each of the parties would provide a written response to their proposal. Russia, France, and the United States have provided a written response, and we expect Iran to provide a written response, and we expect the IAEA to pronounce on that response. So we will wait for the IAEA to make a formal response to this.

QUESTION: Right. Just remind me of the timeline again here? The meeting - the Iranians allegedly agreed to this in principle on October 1st?

MR. KELLY: That's right. Yeah.

QUESTION: What's today's date?

MR. KELLY: I believe its November 18th.

QUESTION: Yeah. You know, that's an awful long time, and during which they are continuing to enrich. So I guess the question is the same as yesterday. How long is too long? When do you actually do something?

MR. KELLY: Well, we are continuing to consult with the IAEA, with our P-5+1 partners. We have a policy of a dual track, both engagement and pressure. At a certain point, we will consult with our P-5+1 partners. And we will keep both of these tracks open. We're not going to close any door on the engagement track, but at a certain point I think we're going to start paying a little more attention to the other track. We're not quite at that point right now, but as I said before, I think that time is short.

QUESTION: Ian, it seems where Mottaki has made these comments today, the script in Farsi of the interview is a little more clearer. He says that we've already given our answer, and he goes step by step into how this whole process started, and he says we were supposed to give answers till Friday, and then Tehran did its study and announced its decision. That means what the IAEA dubbed as the initial response is considered by Tehran as the final response.

MR. KELLY: Well, again, so we'll continue to consult with the IAEA. As far as I know, the IAEA has not received a formal response. If that is true that they have sent a response, then we'll consult with our P-5+1 partners and we'll decide what the next steps are.

QUESTION: Well, apparently, it was not in written form - oral, so (inaudible) apparently (inaudible).

MR. KELLY: Well, we'll follow up with the IAEA if that's indeed true. I'm not --

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