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France seeks Iran talks on basis of Turkish-Brazil offer
During a meeting with Medvedev, the French president said a fourth round of sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council this month were not aimed at punishing Iran, but at convincing the country’s leaders to return to negotiations on its nuclear program, a spokesperson for Sarkozy’s office said. The talks would be held “on the basis of Brazilian and Turkish efforts and the response sent out by Russia, France and the United States,” the spokesperson said.
On the same day as the announcement came from Paris, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held talks on Saturday with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, over the telephone as part of Ankara’s efforts to advance a deal jointly brokered by Brazil and Turkey with Iran along the diplomatic track, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Brazil and Turkey brokered a deal on May 17 that would see Iran exchange nuclear material abroad, but the offer was rejected by Western powers which still believe Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. In addition to exchanging views with Mottaki on activating diplomatic channels for providing the fuel Iran needs for its Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor, Davutoğlu has also been continuing contacts with his Western counterparts on the issue, Anatolia noted, citing anonymous sources.
In Tehran on Saturday, Mottaki praised Turkey and Brazil for their “no” votes in a UN Security Council resolution against Tehran, Iranian Press TV reported, referring to the conversation between Mottaki and Davutoğlu.
During the conversation, Mottaki discussed the conditions for continuing negotiations, while the two foreign ministers agreed that the Tehran declaration is a suitable alternative for failed confrontational approaches, Press TV said on its website.
Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, were the only states among the council’s 15 members to vote against the imposition of a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Lebanon abstained. Iran, which denies it is seeking the bomb, has dismissed the measures as ineffective.
The fact that the two countries together managed to get Iran to agree to a deal on May 17 almost identical to one proposed by the UN atomic watchdog, the IAEA, and backed by the US and other world powers only seven months ago was the main reason that led Turkey and Brazil to vote against the sanctions; they have insisted that the door should be kept open to diplomacy with Tehran.
In the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the spokesperson for Sarkozy’s office stated that France wants to revive negotiations between Iran and a group of six world powers, -- namely the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain plus Germany (P5+1).
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