Turkey: Nuclear swap still on table

Turkey has called for the swift implementation of a nuclear fuel swap between Iran and the West as a peaceful solution to Tehran’s nuclear issue.

Iran, Turkey and Brazil issued a joint nuclear declaration in May based on which Tehran voiced readiness to exchange its low-enriched uranium on Turkish soil with nuclear fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.

Although the declaration met the West’s main demand regarding the nuclear fuel swap, the UN Security Council approved a US-proposed resolution for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in June.

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said in a Tuesday news conference that the declaration was an “important confidence building measure” and that it was still on the table.

He further called for the resumption of talks between Iran and Western countries.

“If they do not sit down and talk, we will be in a worse-off situation this time next year. Time is working against a solution,” he said.

“[Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad alluded to the month of August (for the talks). We wish they would take place sooner,” Ozugergin added.

Ahmadinejad said on Monday that Iran would delay negotiations with the P5+1 world powers — Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany — until early September as a “punishment” for the West.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Tuesday the freeze did not apply to talks on nuclear fuel swap.