Iran Nuclear Swap Issue Steals Show at Brazil UN Forum

The controversy over the Iranian nuclear swap deal that has caused a diplomatic rift between Brazil and the US took center stage at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro.
Iran Nuclear Swap Issue Steals Show at Brazil UN Forum
5/29/2010
Updated:
5/29/2010
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Brazil_President_Lula_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Brazil_President_Lula_medium.jpg" alt="Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or Lula as he is commonly known, at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro. (Felipe Santiago/The Epoch Times)" title="Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or Lula as he is commonly known, at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro. (Felipe Santiago/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-106359"/></a>
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or Lula as he is commonly known, at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro. (Felipe Santiago/The Epoch Times)
RIO DE JANEIRO—The controversy over the Iranian nuclear swap deal that has caused a diplomatic rift between Brazil and the US took center stage at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or Lula as he is commonly known, took advantage of his role as host to defend the deal signed between Brazil, Turkey and Iran in his speech to open the second day of the forum officially themed “peace through the interconnection of cultures.”

The deal signed on May 17 allows Iran to ship low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for higher-grade enriched uranium fuel rods that Iran says it will use in a medical research reactor. Brazil endorsed the deal as a bid help avoid a violent conflict in Iran.

“Brazil believes in an understanding that makes the guns silent ... the world needs a peaceful Middle East, and obviously Brazil is not out of this need. We defend a country free of nuclear weapons. We believe that nuclear power should be an instrument for promoting development, not a threat,” said Lula in his speech at the Rio forum.

The US disagrees and has sharply criticized Brazil and Turkey for their lack of unity over handling Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

“[W]e have very serious disagreements with Brazil’s diplomacy vis-à-vis Iran,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a press briefing in Washington on Thursday.

“[W]e think buying time for Iran, enabling Iran to avoid international unity with respect to their nuclear program makes the world more dangerous, not less. They have a different perspective on what they see they’re doing,” said Clinton, referring to Brazil.

“We think it’s time to go to the Security Council and that it’s only after the Security Council acts that the Iranians will engage effectively on their nuclear program,” said Clinton.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Ahmet_Davutoglu_FA-MinisterTurkey_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Ahmet_Davutoglu_FA-MinisterTurkey_medium.jpg" alt="Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister, at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro. (Felipe Santiago/The Epoch Times)" title="Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister, at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro. (Felipe Santiago/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-106360"/></a>
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister, at the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum May 27-29 in Rio de Janeiro. (Felipe Santiago/The Epoch Times)
Both Brazil and Turkey are non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

Responding to Clinton’s criticism, Lula reiterated that he feels the US position will inevitably lead to violence.

“The theses on a suspected fracture of civilizations in the world, that would lead inexorably to conflict. These theories are criminal when used as a pretext for military actions so-called preventive.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressed his agreement with Brazil, criticizing the attitude of the West and the US, stopping short of calling them hypocritical.

“When we hear those who speak of preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, we realize that they themselves possess nuclear weapons,” said Erdogan.

At a press conference at the close of the forum’s session on Friday, foreign affairs ministers from Brazil, Spain and Turkey—Celso Amorim, Miguel Angel Moratinos and Ahmet Davutoglu respectively—again defended what they see as a diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear conflict.

“I think diplomacy is the only way to solve this important issue ... we’re trying to build a new global order, and for that we cannot create a nuclear disorder,” said Moratinos from Spain.

“I think the action of Brazil and Turkey in Iran, Tehran’s agreement and all that was achieved today at the United Nations ... this is a culture of peace and that is what we are looking for. The rest is the culture of conflict, trying to resolve things in a punitive way,” said Amorim.

Brazil’s minister said that what they are promoting is a “culture of peace” and in contrast to a “culture of conflict.”

“We’re trying a path of dialogue, a way of talking, a way of understanding, and have indeed produced results; and I think there is a lot of people who became disappointed because it has produced results. Their expectation was that it would not produce them so that to have a justification to continue on same line,” said Amorim.