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Davutoğlu to visit Iran amid escalating nuclear row
At a joint press conference with visiting Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said he was not pessimistic about the issue when reminded of Iran’s announcement.
Davutoğlu stated that he believed there is still common ground for talks between Iran and the parties involved. Earlier on Tuesday morning, in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, who was in Ankara last week, Davutoğlu said they had tried to set a date for an upcoming visit to Tehran by Davutoğlu.
Tehran is set to mark the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution on Thursday, while Davutoğlu is scheduled to depart for Kazakhstan on Wednesday for an official three-day visit.
Since neither minister wishes to have a rushed meeting amidst a tight schedule, the Iranian and Turkish parties eventually agreed on Davutoğlu’s visit to the neighboring country taking place next week, most likely on Tuesday, Today’s Zaman learned from diplomatic sources.
At the press conference, Davutoğlu stated that he wanted to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Mottaki as well as other senior Iranian officials soon.
He said he believed that diplomatic routes haven’t yet been exhausted and there may still be a window of opportunity; Turkey has been conducting its efforts through taking all options into consideration and holding talks on various formulas.
A UN proposal for Iran to send much of its uranium abroad to a friendly third country like Turkey for enrichment, pending the arrival of the fuel, which was suggested by the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, is still on the table, Davutoğlu argued.
Late on Monday, the head of Iran’s atomic agency said Iran would not enrich uranium to a higher level if the West provides the fuel it needs for the Tehran research reactor.
“Whenever they provide the fuel, we will halt the production of 20 percent,” Ali Akbar Salehi told state TV late on Monday, referring to the enrichment of the country’s stockpile above its current level of 3.5 percent.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that the United States wants the UN Security Council to approve a resolution within weeks, not months, laying the ground for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
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