US: Diplomacy an option on Iran

Despite Washington’s continued push for more sanctions against Iran, US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer says diplomacy is an option on the Islamic Republic.

“As we have said all along, diplomacy remains an option as we move forward with sanctions,” AFP quoted Hammer as saying on Tuesday.

“As we have said all along, diplomacy remains an option as we move forward with sanctions,” he added.

“But it is Iran that needs to take concrete steps to meet its international obligations if it does not want to be further isolated,” Hammer stated.

The US official’s remarks came on the same day as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the Tehran declaration on nuclear fuel swap is still “alive.”

“The Tehran declaration is alive and will play its role in the international relations,” Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with the Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin in Tehran on Tuesday.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed the declaration in Tehran on May 17, according to which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

The declaration was hailed internationally as a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program, but only one day after the declaration was signed, the US revealed a draft UN Security Council resolution against Iran.