The US clashed with Brazil and Turkey on Friday over the next steps on Iran, with US officials saying a proposed atomic fuel deal for Tehran must not derail the UN drive to impose new sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.
In signs of the deep rift between the US and two influential non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, Turkey and Brazil stepped up to defend their proposal as the right thing to do to reduce tensions over the Iranian nuclear impasse.
“We know we did the right thing,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told a news conference, flanked by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “We are seeking to follow a path of dialogue, a path of conversation and understanding, and that has produced results.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Tehran earlier this month to broker the deal under which Iran agreed to send 1,200kg of its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for specially processed fuel for its medical isotope reactor.
Senior US officials dismissed the fuel deal proposal, saying Turkey and Brazil appeared to have been hoodwinked by Tehran in its efforts to escape new UN sanctions.
“We very much recognize the sincere efforts that were made by Brazil and Turkey ... but unfortunately I think the motives of the parties were quite different,” said one senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I think Iran’s main interest was to have a proposal in play that would reduce momentum toward a sanctions resolution.”
Iran rejects Western allegations its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons. It says its atomic ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity and refuses to suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday he believed Western powers were mulling the fuel deal, which he said could foster cooperation instead of confrontation.
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