U.S. Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey said Wednesday that Turkey has played crucial role as a mediator regarding Iran’s nuclear problem for some time.
Answering questions of journalists at an industrial zone in Ankara, Jeffrey said another mediator Brazil was in close cooperation with Turkey. U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Washington, D.C. and they discussed the issue of being a mediator for Iran’s nuclear problem, Jeffrey said.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu expressed hope on Wednesday that diplomatic efforts Turkey jointly exerted with Brazil yielded a positive result over Iran’s nuclear program. “We are continuing our vigorous consultations in full coordination with Brazil. We will have fresh initiatives in the coming days and I hope our joint efforts will bring about positive results,” Davutoglu told reporters in a press meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Kostyantyn Hryshchenko in capital Kiev.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed “in principle” to a Brazilian role in breaking the deadlock over a U.N.-backed nuclear fuel swap with the West.
Under the U.N. plan first put forward in 2009, Western powers would send nuclear fuel rods to a Tehran reactor in exchange for Iran’s stock of lower-level enriched uranium. The U.S. and its allies fear Iran’s disputed nuclear program aims to build nuclear weapons, and view the swap as a way to curb Tehran’s capacity to do so.
Brazil denies nuclear swap plan
Iran, which insists its nuclear program only aims to generate electricity, rejected the original exchange proposal. At the same time, the country’s leaders have worked to keep the offer on the table, proposing variations, though without accepting the terms set in the U.N. proposal.
A statement posted on Ahmadinejad’s website late Tuesday said during a telephone conversation with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Iranian president “announced his agreement in principle” to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s mediation proposal.
However, a spokesman for Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday Brasilia had not made an official offer to mediate yet, but that Brazil was ready to help with talks any way it can.
A Brazilian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that no such plan had been proposed during a visit to Tehran last month by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
“We were informed that an official Iranian government website mentioned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supported a Brazilian ‘program.’ But there was no presentation of a formal program during the foreign minister’s visit,” the spokesman said.
Brazil and Turkey, which are currently non-permanent members of the Security Council, oppose a new round of sanctions, insisting that only talks will resolve the impasse.
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Compiled from AA, AFP and AP reports by the Daily News staff.