Uruguay Joins Supporters of Tehran Declaration

"The Uruguayan government supports the Tehran Declaration on Iran's nuclear issues and assesses the efforts made in this regard as highly important," Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Leonardo Almagro Lemes said in a meeting with Head of Iran's Department of Environmental (DoE) Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, FARS News reported.

Uruguay's support for the Tehran Declaration came after most of the international community backed up the document which envisages sending some 1200 kg of Iran's 3.5% enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for a total 120 kg of 20% enriched fuel.

Iran, Brazil and Turkey endorsed the agreement on the fuel swap and issued a relevant declaration in Tehran last week. Based on the Tehran agreement, the fuel swap will take place nearly a month after receiving an official approval from the Vienna Group, which consists of representatives from potential suppliers - France, Russia and the US - and the IAEA as the world's nuclear arbitration and supervision body.

After the Tehran Declaration was issued last Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote letters to 26 world leaders to brief them over the breakthrough agreement which envisages swap of enriched uranium between Iran and the West via Turkey.

Independent countries, like Kenya, Kuwait, Japan and Mexico as well as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have all hailed the move.

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano in a meeting with her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki also announced her country's support for the Tehran Declaration.

A number of EU officials have also voiced preparedness to start talks with Iran on the basis of the Tehran Declaration.