Turkish and Iranian officials held talks on a proposal from the chief of the United Nations nuclear agency for Iran’s enriched uranium to be sent to Turkey for processing into reactor fuel, an alternative to a plan for Russia to do the work. The Turkish option, suggested on Nov. 6 by International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, was discussed by officials from the two countries November 9 at a meeting of leaders of Islamic nations in Istanbul. FM Davutoglu said Turkey “always wants to help” to resolve disputes, without elaborating.” The U.S. is willing to give Iran’s government more time to decide whether to accept the idea of shipping its uranium abroad for processing, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA said November 9.
Turkey could only act as an honest broker for an enrichment deal. It lacks the capacity to enrich the uranium itself. Reportedly, Iran has already turned down ElBaradei’s proposal to send its enriched uranium to Turkey.
Source: Hurriyet Daily
Leave a Reply