Japan urged Iran on Monday to halt its controversial uranium enrichment program, hinting Tokyo might support additional international sanctions against the country, media reports said.
Japan
urged
Iran
on
Monday to halt its controversial uranium enrichment program, hinting
Tokyo
might
support additional international sanctions against the country, media reports
said.
The move came as Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met his Iranian
counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, in
Tokyo
at
Tehran
's
request after the
U.S.
presented a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council.
The
U.S.
is
pushing for a resolution that would punish
Iran
with
a fourth set of sanctions because of fears
Tehran
is
trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran
maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Okada told Mottaki fresh sanctions would be "unavoidable" if
Tehran
continues a program of enriching uranium to 20%, a practice seen by Western
nations as a cover for the production of nuclear weapons, the reports said.
Okada told Japanese media after the meeting that what he had told Mottaki had
"connotations" that
Japan
might
support fresh sanctions, Jiji Press said.
The Japanese foreign ministry's press division couldn't immediately confirm the
reports.
Mottaki said that
Iran
's
nuclear development was strictly for peaceful purposes and that there was no
need for the sanctions, the reports said.
Okada also urged
Tehran
to
steadily implement a nuclear swap deal brokered by
Turkey
and
Brazil
earlier this month.
Under the deal,
Iran
has
committed to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium in
Turkey
in
return for reactor fuel.
But the deal drew a cool reaction from world powers led by the
U.S.
,
which has pushed for new sanctions against
Tehran
. Western
governments say the deal fails to address concerns about
Iran
's
nuclear program.
Mottaki told a news conference earlier Monday that he remained hopeful that the
swap deal would go ahead despite a frosty reaction from the
U.S.
"I don't expect that the deal will fail because of the
U.S.
position," Mottaki said.
"I can't say how big the chance is in percentage terms, but I have great
hopes for the realisation of the deal," he said, according to a Japanese
translation of his remarks, which were made in Farsi.
France
and
Russia
previously offered to supply
Iran
with
the higher-enriched fuel.
Referring to the deal with
Ankara
and
Brasilia
,
Mottaki said, "The deal was different because it was built on mutual
trust, but it was the same as previous proposals in that it was a swap
deal."
He also said that "
Japan
has
made a similar proposal in talks with the Iranian ambassador to
Japan
."
In February,
Iran
's
parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said in
Tokyo
that
Iran
would
study a Japanese offer to enrich uranium for
Tehran
to
allow it access to nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
Mottaki said Monday that "the plan to ship 1,200 kilograms of uranium to
Japan was also discussed, because we have trust in countries like Japan, Turkey
and Brazil."
"Then finally we reached the deal that we ship 1,200 kilograms to Turkey. We'd
hoped that there would be a four-party deal including
Japan
."
Mottaki reiterated that
Iran
is
committed to the civilian use of its nuclear power and observing the nuclear
nonproliferation treaty as well as the rules of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
He also accused
Israel
of
being "the only country in the
Middle East
that
holds nuclear weapons" and called for it to ratify the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty.
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