Brazilian President Lula arrives in Tehran

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Brazilian President Lula arrives in Tehran
May 16, 2010, 0:55 GMT


Tehran - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvia arrived Saturday night in Tehran to start a two-day official visit with Iran's controversial nuclear programme atop the agenda.

Local media said that Lula would hold talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday and other top Iranian officials.

Iran on Saturday played down nuclear talks with Lula as a last chance for Tehran to avoid a renewed United Nations Security Council resolution.

'The Brazilian president will come to Tehran with a 300-man delegation for promoting economic and other bilateral cooperation, and the nuclear issue might also be discussed,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the news network Khabar.

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1556029.php/Brazilian-President-Lula-arrives-in-Tehran

[pundaint]

1. An interesting bit of writing in that piece. PP 1 says nukes are at the top, PP 4 says "might be

discussed"

[The abyss]

2. I wasn’t aware Brazil had planned this mission.

Thanks for posting!

The world becomes more and more interesting.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Brazil's President Lula in Iran for key nuclear talks

Page last updated at 01:40 GMT, Sunday, 16 May 2010 02:40 UK
Brazil's President Lula in Iran for key nuclear talks
By Jon Leyne
BBC Tehran correspondent

Brazil's president is in Iran to hold talks with its leaders in what is seen as a last ditch attempt to find a compromise over the nuclear issue.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived from Moscow, where he met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

US officials have warned they are close to securing agreement on a new package of sanctions against Iran in the UN security council.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Diplomatic effort

President Lula's visit to Tehran has been described by both senior American and Russian officials as the last chance for a compromise before new sanctions are imposed on Iran.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8685036.stm

[Judi Lynn]

4. Brazil's president seeks nuclear compromise with Iranian leaders, as US pushes for sanctions

Brazil's president seeks nuclear compromise with Iranian leaders, as US pushes for sanctions
ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
4:52 a.m. EDT, May 16, 2010

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Brazil's president met with Iranian leaders Sunday to try to broker a compromise in the international standoff over Tehran's nuclear program, even as the U.S. says new sanctions are the only way to force Iran's cooperation.

Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is trying to use Brazil's friendly relations with Iran to show it can be a fair, neutral broker in the escalating dispute. Since evidence of a clandestine Iranian nuclear program first emerged in 2003, negotiations with world powers and visits by U.N. inspectors have failed to persuade the U.S. and its allies that Iran is not pursuing a weapons capability.

"It's more difficult for someone who has nuclear weapons to ask someone not to develop nuclear weapons," Silva said in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV on Saturday. "It's easier for someone who does not carry nuclear weapons, like myself, to ask for that."

The Brazilian president is reportedly trying to revive a U.N.-backed proposal in which Iran would ship its stockpile of enriched uranium abroad to be processed further and returned as fuel rods for a medical research reactor.

Silva began his visit by meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the afternoon, he was to meet Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

More:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-ml-iran-brazil,0,7917688.story