ANKARA: Turkey is still considering whether its prime minister should go to Iran for joint talks with Brazil’s president over Tehran’s nuclear program, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday.
Ankara’s decision will depend on the outcome of contacts with Iranian and Western officials, including a planned telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Davutoglu said on the Haberturk television channel.
"The matter is not to just hold a three-way meeting… We want to get results if such a meeting is to be held," he said.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman had said Tuesday that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip "Erdogan would be in Iran at the same time as Brazilian President" Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, due to visit Tehran on Sunday and Monday.
Brazil and Turkey — both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council opposed to fresh sanctions against Iran, sought by Washington — have recently stepped up diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff.
Turkey said last week it had proposed to host talks between Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, as a representative of the so-called P5+1 group of world powers.
It said Iran had welcomed the idea and a response was awaited from Ashton.
"The two sides should agree on the agenda and the date of the talks," Davutoglu said Thursday, adding that Turkey would "very probably" be the venue of the meeting if an agreement was reached.
The P5+1 group consists of permanent Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany.
Western powers and Iran have been at loggerheads over a proposed deal to supply nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor in exchange for low-enriched uranium from Iran.
The deal stalled when Iran insisted the two materials be exchanged simultaneously within its borders, an idea rejected by the world powers, who accuse Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Wary over the economic impact of fresh sanctions on its eastern neighbor, Turkey insists the row should be resolved through diplomatic means.
