Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Iran rejects the 'Turkish option' ...

Iranian technicians, work with foreign colleagues at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. AP photo
'The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant'
Hurriyet/ here

".. Ramin Mehmanparast implicitly rejected Turkey's desire to mediate between it and world powers, a possibility raised by U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday during talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “The Iranian stance in the nuclear dispute is quite clear and there is no need for a third party to mediate,” Mehmanparast told reporters at a news conference in Tehran.

The Turkish option, which International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei proposed on Nov. 6, was discussed by top Turkish and Iranian leaders during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s November visit to Istanbul. ElBaradei offered Turkey as a third party to send Iran’s enriched uranium – an alternative to a plan for Russia to do the work.

During his visit to the United States, Erdoğan criticized the U.N. nuclear watchdog's censure of Iran as a “very rushed” move and insisted Tehran's nuclear program should be dealt with diplomatically...."

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