Turkey in bid to rally support for Iran nuke deal

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has phoned world leaders to seek support for a deal Iran agreed to earlier this week to ease tensions over its nuclear program as a US-led coalition pushes for sanctions against Tehran to force it to stop enriching uranium. Erdogan spoke to US President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday evening and was due to call the leaders of France, Britain, China and Germany, all members of what is commonly referred to as the P5+1 -- a group which consists of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany which has pressed for Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment activity. But Erdogan, speaking at a joint press conference with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci in Ankara, said he was also seeking support from neighboring countries, a move that appears to be aimed at broadening the base of international support for the deal. Erdogan spoke to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. “I would be happy if we can make the slightest contribution to the world peace,” Erdogan said, urging the West to heed the conciliatory step taken by Iran. Brazil and Turkey brokered a surprise deal on Monday, in which Iran agreed to send its high-enriched uranium to Turkey in return for fuel rods for a medical research reactor. Turkey, Brazil and Iran have urged a halt to talk of further sanctions because of the deal, but critics in the West insist the deal was only a tactic to avert or delay sanctions. Despite the deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil, the US proposed a draft sanctions resolution, agreed to by all five permanent UN Security Council members after months of negotiation, to the UN Security Council on Tuesday. Erdogan said Obama was focused on the content of the letter Iran would send to the IAEA in their telephone conversation. “He said the US was attaching big importance to this,” he said of the conversation. “The president stressed the international community’s continuing and fundamental concerns about Iran’s overall nuclear program,” the White House said in a statement summarizing Obama’s telephone conversation with Erdogan. Obama told Erdogan that the international community is waiting for “formal and authoritative message” from Iran to IAEA, according to the statement. Russia also urged Iran to send the proposal to the IAEA as soon as possible. Iran has said it will respond to the IAEA by May 24. “We call on Iran to send its proposal to the IAEA as quickly as possible so that the scheme for the fuel exchange can be agreed,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to Italy yesterday. Meanwhile, Iran announced yesterday that it could cancel its agreement with Turkey and Brazil to transfer some of its uranium abroad if the UN Security Council approves the sanctions.