Brazil, Turkey defend nuclear deal with Iran, urge Security Council to give talks more time

Brazil, Turkey defend nuclear deal with Iran

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil and Turkey urged the U.N. Security Council to refrain from more sanctions for Iran, saying Wednesday a compromise they brokered this week is the best way to resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

In a letter sent to nations with seats on the Security Council, the two countries criticized a U.S.-proposed draft resolution that seeks harsher penalties against Tehran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

“Brazil and Turkey are convinced that it is time to give a chance for negotiations and to avoid measures that are detrimental to a peaceful solution of this matter,” the letter said.

It asked the five permanent members of the Security Council — China, France, Britain, Russia and the United States — to reconsider their compromise, which calls for Iran to deposit 1,200 kilograms of lightly enriched uranium in Turkey in exchange for 120 kilograms of nuclear reactor fuel.

The surprise agreement announced Monday did not ease concerns in the West that Iran’s nuclear program has military dimensions, primarily because Tehran has said it will continue to enrich uranium to higher levels. Uranium enriched to a low level is used for nuclear fuel, but if processed to much higher levels it can be fashioned into a weapon.

On Tuesday, Washington and its allies won crucial backing from Russia and China for new sanctions.

Brazil and Turkey defended their agreement as a “realistic and achievable road map leading to necessary agreements and arrangements which are to be negotiated between the parties directly involved.”

Iran criticized the sanctions resolution earlier Wednesday, calling it “illegitimate.”