'Obama signaled Khamenei that U.S. could accept civilian nuclear program in Iran'

Source: Haaretz

U.S. President Barack Obama has recently passed a message to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Washington Post reported on Friday, which signaled that the United States would agree to an Iranian civilian nuclear program if they proved they were not developing a nuclear bomb.

According to David Ignatius, the Washington Post's senior columnist specializing in intelligence matters, Obama passed Khamenei the message through Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Tehran this week.

Obama reportedly signaled Khamenei that the U.S. would be prepared to accept a civilian nuclear program in Iran, should the Iranian leader take steps that would support his public declarations in February, in which he said that Iran "would never develop nuclear weapons." The U.S., Obama also wrote, would also expect Iranian leaders to prove that Tehran does not have a military nuclear program.

Obama met with Erdogan at the nuclear summit in South Korea for two hours and asked him to pass on the message to Khamenei. Obama told Erdogan that the Iranians must understand that time is running out on a solution for the Tehran nuclear problem and that they must take advantage of the negotiations that will begin with the six world powers on April 13.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/obama-signaled-khamenei-that-u-s-could-accept-civilian-nuclear-program-in-iran-1.423057?localLinksEnabled=false

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