Rio De Janeiro, March 24: Brazil on Tuesday again urged the international community to negotiate with Iran rather than seek to apply sanctions over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.
“Brazil still sees space to negotiate on the agreement proposed by the IAEA,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said after talks in Rio de Janeiro with International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano.
“Once this agreement is accepted — if it is — there will be a better climate, a better ambience,” said Amorim.
The reiteration of Brazil’s position suggested that multi-pronged efforts by the United States, Germany and Britain to change Brasilia’s mind on rejecting sanctions against Iran were failing.
Brazil has steadfastly defended Iran’s nuclear program, saying Tehran was entitled to peaceful nuclear energy for civilian uses.
Amano, who took up his job in December, has maintained the line of his predecessor in saying that an IAEA proposal to Iran consisting of enriching Iran’s uranium out of the country “is still on the table.”
He said that, though he had an “open invitation” to visit Iran, he would only do so “at an appropriate time… I haven’t decided when.”
—Agencies