Ahead of Ahmadinejad's visit to Brazil, US president sends letter to his Brazilian counterpart, asking him to urge Iranian leader to hold dialogue with West and agree to send uranium abroad. President Lula expresses his support for Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes
WASHINGTON – A day before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
arrival in Brazil, US President Barack Obama sent a letter on Sunday to his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, asking him to help the international community pressure Iran
to accept the proposal
to send its enriched uranium for further processing, the Brazilian president's advisor told the New York Times.
In his 33-page letter, Obama did not criticize the fact that Ahmadinejad was invited to Brazil, making him the first Iranian president to visit
the country in 44 years.
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The American president repeated the details of the draft agreement on sending uranium abroad, which was reached on October 1 with Iran's consent, and asked Lula to urge Ahmadinejad to hold a dialogue with Western powers.
Lula attended the G-20 summit in Italy in April, during which the industrialized countries discussed coordinating their positions on the Iranian nuclear program.
According to the NY Times, relations between the US and Brazil have been tense even before Ahmadinejad's visit, on the backdrop of the American initiative to station additional soldiers in Colombia, as well as Washington's involvement in the political crisis in Honduras.
This may be the reason why Lula was unimpressed by Obama's letter, expressing his support for Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes the next day during his meeting with Ahmadinejad.
A spokesman on behalf of the Brazilian president said Lula plans to telephone his American counterpart instead of answering him in a letter of his own.
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