Thursday, June 10, 2010

As Washington & Tehran say nuclear swap deal 'still on the table', could the US live with an Iranian enrichment program?

HURRIYET/ here

"Both U.S. and Iranian officials said the nuclear swap agreement brokered by Turkey and Brazil was still on the table, even after the United Nations’ decision to adopt new sanctions against Iran.

In a meeting held with Turkish media after the U.N. Security Council’s vote approving fresh sanctions against Iran, U.S. officials said they were ready to discuss the nuclear issue at a technical level if Iran answers the relevant questions. “We do not think the door of diplomacy has been closed. There is still a chance for diplomacy regarding Iran,” the U.S. officials said.

Under the agreement signed May 17 by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim in Tehran, Iran committed to send 1,200 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium to Turkey. In return, it would receive 20 percent enriched uranium from Western countries to be used as fuel for the nuclear research reactor in the Iranian capital.....

Iran also announced late Wednesday that cooperation with Turkey and Brazil on the nuclear swap deal would continue. Mohammad Khazaee, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said the Security Council’s decision to impose new sanctions on his country would not close diplomatic channels.

“Regional and international cooperation with Turkey and Brazil will continue,” Khazaee told an Anatolia news agency correspondent in New York...."

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