Tokyo: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Monday said he remained hopeful that a nuclear fuel swap deal with Brazil and Turkey would go ahead despite a
frosty reaction from the United States.
"I don`t expect that the deal will fail because of the US position," Mottaki said at a news conference in Tokyo ahead of a meeting with Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada.
"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 in
Farsi.
Turkey and Brazil brokered a deal with Iran earlier this month under which Iran has committed to deposit 1,200 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium in Turkey in return for
reactor fuel.
But the deal drew a cool reaction from world powers led by the United States, which has pushed for new sanctions against Tehran. Western governments say the deal fails to
address concerns about Iran`s nuclear programme.
France and Russia had previously offered to supply Iran with the higher-enriched fuel.
PTI
