The information is attributed to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who was negotiating at length with Iran last year over a fuel swap.
The Turk said Iranian hardliners undercut Ahmadi-nejad, saying a fuel swap deal with the West was seen as a “virtual defeat” by the hardliners.
With that perspective on such a minor and peripheral issue as the fuel swap, it raises the question of whether any deal would be possible with the Islamic Republic.
Davutoglu’s observation that Ahmadi-nejad would rather deal with the United States than Russia is not a view held widely in the United States—but it is a view held by many in Russia, where the fear is widespread that Russia’s current hard line on Iran is driving Tehran into the arms of the Americans who lack trust in Russia.
The document was posted on the WikiLeaks website Tuesday.
It is mainly about a proposed arrangement for Iran to get the special fuel needed to operate the very small Tehran nuclear reactor, which is used to make medical isotopes.
The 2009 plan called for Iran to ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country and receive in exchange special nuclear fuel ready for use in the Tehran reactor. Iran balked at the proposal and outlined various alternative fuel swaps that the major powers said fell short of their demands.
In late 2009, Davutoglu told visiting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon that Iran’s government was willing to work out some kind of fuel swap arrangement, but he said Ahmadi-nejad was facing “huge pressures” at home, according to the secret cable.
Davutoglu was quoted as saying that the proposed deal was “interpreted by some circles in Iran as a virtual defeat” under Western pressure.
The cable said Turkish officials had asked Ahmadi-nejad “if the core of the issue is psychological rather than substance.”
“Ahmadi-nejad had said ‘yes,’ that the Iranians agree to the proposal but need to manage the public perception,” the message said, adding that Turkish officials consider Ahmadi-nejad as “more flexible than others who are inside the Iranian government.”
It also said the Iranians have “more trust” in the US envoys than British negotiators and “the Iranians would also prefer to get fuel from the US rather than the Russians.”
The leaked cable said Gordon noted that Washington believes Turkey can be “helpful as a mediator” with Iran, but also pushed for a stronger Turkish stand on Iran’s nuclear efforts.
It quoted the Turkish foreign minister as replying: “Only Turkey can speak bluntly and critically to the Iranians,… but only because Ankara is showing public messages of friendship.”