On Thursday, the P5+1 – comprising of Russia, China, France, Britain, the US, and Germany – expressed their readiness to resume the talks with Iran. Tehran also says it is ready to continue negotiations based on common ground.
Iran and the P5+1 have held two rounds of multifaceted talks, one in Geneva in December 2010 and another in Istanbul, Turkey in January 2011.
Davutoglu said the May 2010 Tehran Agreement between Turkey, Iran and Brazil, which was rejected by the West, was a huge “missed opportunity,” Hurriyet Daily News reported on Friday.
“If that agreement was accepted, Iran would have taken the uranium it needed from abroad, halting the process of enrichment,” Davutoglu added.
Iran signed a nuclear declaration with Brazil and Turkey on May 17, 2010, announcing its readiness to swap 1,200 kg of its low enriched uranium with 20 percent enriched fuel on Turkish soil.
Three weeks later, however, the UN Security Council imposed its fourth round of sanctions, hampering negotiations aimed at resolving a row over Iran’s enrichment program up to the 20 percent level.
The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran is entitled to peaceful use of nuclear technology.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran’s nuclear energy program has been diverted towards nuclear weapons production.
HMV/HGH
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