Brazil: Tehran Declaration significant

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim has reiterated his country’s willingness to act as a mediator to resolve the persisting case of Iran’s nuclear issue.

The Brazilian official also emphasized on Saturday that resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue can be achieved through discussions, IRIB reported on Sunday.

Amorim described the trilateral nuclear declaration, signed between Iran, Brazil and Turkey in Tehran last May on a nuclear fuel swap arrangement for the Tehran Research Reactor, as a significant step towards satisfying concerns of all parties involved in the case.

He also expressed his amazement that some countries have ignored the importance of the Tehran Declaration by the three countries.

On May 17, Iran signed an agreement with Turkey and Brazil. Known as the Tehran Declaration, Iran agreed to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for the 20 percent uranium fuel needed for its Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

However, less than a month after the fuel swap declaration was made public by Iranian officials, the US and its allies snubbed the move, pushing for new anti-Iran sanctions at the UN Security Council.

The Islamic Republic has fiercely condemned the latest UN sanctions as an obstacle to the implementation of the declaration.

The Vienna Group raised some questions about the tripartite declaration, to which Iran officially responded on July 29. Tehran says it is prepared to resume talks in September.

Iran, meanwhile, maintains that the Tehran Declaration must be the basis of any future negotiations with the Vienna Group — the US, France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency.