Brazil urges ‘just solution’ to Iran nuclear issue

The Brazilian president has backed Iran’s rights to peaceful nuclear energy and called for a “just solution” to Tehran’s nuclear dispute with the West.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed by his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday.

Lula reiterated that Brazil backed Iran’s plans to use “peaceful nuclear energy in full respect of international accords.”

He further called on Iran to “continue contacts with interested countries for a just solution on the nuclear issue in Iran.”

Brazil has repeatedly voiced its support of Iran’s nuclear plan and opposed sanctions against the country.

Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program led to a major breakthrough when the UN nuclear watchdog proposed that Iran should send most of its domestically produced low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for metal fuel rods for its Tehran medical research reactor.

Iran has officially announced that it will accept the basics of the proposal but has sought certain modifications to the offer, saying the country’s enriched uranium supply will not be sent out of its borders due to the lack of confidence in the West.

The Islamic Republic says a guaranteed supply of fuel for the Tehran research reactor is the country’s major concern.

Iran says as both sides of the deal have their stockpiles ready, there is no problem with the simultaneous exchange of Tehran’s LEU with the 20 percent-enriched uranium inside the Iranian territory.

After his one-day visit to Brazil, President Ahmadinejad will travel to Venezuela and Bolivia.