Tehran, April 27: Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim has said his country could consider hosting the exchange of nuclear fuel for Tehran if asked to do so, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
“As of now there is no proposal, but if we receive such a proposal, it could be examined,” Amorim told IRNA in an interview when asked whether Brazil would offer to host the exchange of fuel on its territory.
World powers led by the United States and Iran are at loggerheads over an October UN-drafted proposal for the supply of nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor in exchange for the Islamic republic’s stocks of low-enriched uranium.
But the deal is stalled as Iran insists the exchange of the two materials take place simultaneously and within its borders, a condition rejected by world powers.
The stalemate over the deal has led Washington, already angered with Tehran’s overall nuclear programme, to step up global efforts for a new set of UN sanctions against Iran.
Amorim, who said on after arriving in Tehran on Monday that sanctions against Iran would be a “negative and unfair move,” told IRNA that if the fuel exchange deal takes place it would help Iran.
“If there is a deal about exchange (of fuel) between Iran and other countries, it could be a good occasion to solve other issues… and to expand the commercial and political relations between Iran and other countries,” he said.
In the interview with IRNA, he reiterated that Brazil was trying to stave off sanctions against the Islamic republic.
“We are looking for a way to prevent sanctions against Iran because we think that sanctions are ineffective. The only thing the sanctions achieve is that they will hurt people, especially the lower class of people,” he said.
He also said that even if Brazil had no role in imposing sanctions, its commercial ties with Iran would be affected when international banks and financial institutions impose restrictions on commercial activities.
As a temporary UN Security Council member, Brazil has not indicated whether it would vote for or against a possible sanctions resolution targeting Iran.
World powers accuse Iran of masking a weapons drive under the guise of what Tehran says is a purely civilian atomic programme.
For a sanctions measure to pass, nine of the 15 Security Council members would have to vote in favour, as long as none of the five permanent members employs its veto.
Brazil, along with other UN Security Council members such as Turkey and Lebanon, has defended Iran’s nuclear programme and given little credence to US arguments that Tehran is trying to secretly develop a nuclear arsenal.
–Agencies