DOHA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday his country is willing to serve as the venue for an exchange of Iranian nuclear fuel in any settlement between Tehran and the West.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Turkey could serve as the center for the exchange of uranium ... but there is no agreement up until now,” he said at a press conference in the Qatari capital Doha.
“If Turkey is chosen, it will do what it is asked to do,” Erdogan said, adding that Ankara has been trying for several months to help resolve the crisis over Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
Erdogan was due to hold talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who arrived in Doha on the first leg of a Gulf tour focused on the Iranian nuclear program and US calls for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Tehran.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country has good ties with Tehran and has repeatedly offered to serve as mediator, is expected to visit Iran in the coming days to push for a diplomatic solution.
The move coincides with Western efforts for Iran to commit to an UN-drafted proposal for it to ship its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in return for nuclear fuel from France and Russia for a Tehran medical research reactor.
Although Iran has said it is ready “in principle” to sign on to the proposal, it insists that not all its LEU be shipped out in one go as world powers are demanding.
“The (Western) proposal is still valid ... We believe there is still an important chance for peace”, Davutoglu said last week.
Turkey, NATO’s only member that neighbors Iran, insists the row should be resolved through dialogue, arguing that economic sanctions or military action against Iran would have a damaging impact on the whole region.
In Washington, US Vice President Joe Biden said the United States expects to gain China’s support for imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
“We have the support of everyone from Russia to Europe. And I believe we’ll get the support of China to continue to impose sanctions on Iran to isolate them, to make clear that in fact they cannot move forward,” Biden said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
