Critical day arrives for ıran nuclear swap deal

Iran is due to present an official letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today about its nuclear fuel swap deal with Turkey and Brazil, completing the first phase of the agreement despite threats of sanctions. Leaders of the three countries announced the agreement last Monday under which Iran will send 1,200 kilograms of its enriched uranium stocks to Turkey in exchange for fuel rods for a Tehran medical research reactor. But the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, after months of negotiations, brushed off the deal with a draft resolution on a new set of sanctions against Iran that Washington handed to the Security Council on Tuesday. In a telephone conversation with PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama said the US was expecting a "formal and authoritative message from Iran to the IAEA," repeating that, although the efforts of Turkey and Brazil were appreciated, concerns over Iran's nuclear program did not diminish after last Monday's deal. The letter to the IAEA constitutes the first phase of plan’s implementation, following which Iran would send 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey within one month, awaiting the delivery of 120 kilograms of uranium enriched by Russia and France up to 20 percent in 11 months in return. Premier Erdogan spoke to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and asserted that Turkey’s efforts to rally international support for last Monday’s deal will continue, IRNA reported on Sunday. Turkey has been working intensively to extend support for the deal. On Saturday, Erdogan’s office announced that the prime minister has written to the leaders of 26 countries saying the deal would resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran by way of diplomacy and negotiation. The countries include all permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in Istanbul on Friday he hoped the deal would open the way to a negotiated settlement of Iran’s row with the West over its nuclear program.