Bulgaria Urges Iran to Drop Uranium Enrichment Immediately

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Bulgarian counterpart in Sofia Friday. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Iran should stop all uranium enrichment activities until the controversy about its nuclear program is resolved, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov told his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in Sofia.

Before the Foreign Minister of Iran, Mladenov has expressed concerns about the Iranian nuclear program and the way the authorities in Tehran act with respect to the opposition, the Foreign Ministry announced.

“For Bulgaria – a country which is not only a member of the EU and NATO but is also close geographically to Iran – it is essential that doubts about the peaceful character of the Iranian nuclear program be disproved,” Mladenov told Mottaki.

The two Foreign Ministers have discussed the recent agreement for the swap of nuclear fuel that Iran made with Brazil and Turkey.

The Bulgarian top diplomat has called upon Iran to terminate immediately all uranium enrichment activities, to obey the resolutions of the UN Security Council, and to guarantee all-out cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency all questions about the character of Iran’s nuclear program are settled.

However, Mladenov also emphasized the fact that Bulgaria and Iran traditionally enjoy good relations, and that he hoped the two states will soon sign a legal assistance agreement, and while Bulgaria shared the issues of concern to the international community, it differentiated between these matters and the strictly bilateral relations.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived on a surprise visit to Bulgaria Friday in order to participate in the 22nd meeting of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

During the BSEC meeting in Sofia, Mottaki told journalists he expected a positive response from the IAEA with respect to Iran’s nuclear swap deal with Brazil and Turkey.

In his words, the so called Vienna Group, consisting of France, Russia and the US, is viewing positively the deal agreed on May 17 by Iran, Turkey, and Brazil, which is a remake of a similar deal with Russia and France from which Iran withdrew in the fall of 2009.

During his visit to Sofia Friday, the Iranian Foreign Minister did not meet with anyone else from the Bulgarian state leadership except for his Bulgarian counterpart.

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