NEW YORK, August 11. /TASS/. Iran has considerably slowed down the accumulation of highly-enriched uranium, which can be seen as a step toward the resumption of talks with the United States on nuclear problems already this fall, The Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing sources familiar with the situation.

According to the sources, Iran has decreased the level of enrichment of part of its enriched uranium stockpiles. The newspaper said that Tehran took this step as part of efforts toward the resumption of nuclear talks with the United States. According to The Wall Street Journal, US administration officials told Tehran earlier that they were ready to look at possibly resuming the talks that were halted last fall if Tehran took concrete steps during the summer to curtail its nuclear program.

Nevertheless, the newspaper said, Iran still has large stocks of 60%-enriched uranium, which could be enough to make two nuclear devices.

It was reported on Thursday that the United States and Iran had reached an agreement on a prisoner swap. Under these agreements, Tehran will receive $6 billion from its frozen US assets.