Amid US reach out, Iran talks of nuclear work with Brazil

After the US called on the Brazilian president to encourage his Iranian counterpart to negotiate with the West over his country’s nuclear case, Iran’s president talks of launching nuclear cooperation with Brazil.

In an interview with the Brazilian national television, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set out with the idea of establishing cooperation in the field of nuclear technology with Brazil.

When asked if Iran would be willing to import nuclear technology from Brazil, President Ahmadinejad explained that “Iran’s nuclear activities are aimed at providing nuclear energy.”

“However, the technology of nuclear facilities is aimed at making use of nuclear energy and the two countries can have great cooperation in this field,” the Iranian president said on Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad went on to defend Iran and Brazil’s right to make use of the nuclear enrichment technology, saying that both countries need to use the technology in their nuclear facilities.

The remarks come as US President Barack Obama, one day before the Iranian President made his first state visit to Brazil, sent a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

According to American officials, the letter called on da Silva to use the occasion to express support for international efforts to forge a compromise on Iran’s nuclear activities.

After having defended Iran’s right to have a peaceful nuclear program, the Brazilian president said Iran should negotiate with the West to find a ”just and balanced” solution to the dispute over its nuclear program.

At the end of the visit, Iranian and Brazilian officials signed a joint statement in which both states vehemently deplored the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) particularly nuclear weaponry.

Reiterating their allegiance to the non proliferation treaty (NPT), the two countries called for ‘practical measures’ to be conducted for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.