Turkey rules out plans for nuclear cooperation with Iran

Turkey has no plans for cooperation with Iran to build nuclear power plants, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

It comes after Mohammad Javad Larijani, a foreign affairs adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said in New York that the Islamic Republic was willing to share its nuclear technology with neighbouring countries, suggesting it could help Turkey build an atomic power plant.

"Iran is an important neighbouring country. We have oil and gas trade, but cooperation in the area of nuclear power stations is not currently on our agenda," Yildiz was quoted as telling reporters.

The UN nuclear watchdog reported last week that Iran appeared to have worked covertly on designing atomic bombs and may be continuing research to that end, and Tehran is under U.N. sanctions over its disputed nuclear activity.

Larijani said that Iran was ready to share its nuclear capability with neighbours and friendly countries in the region.

"Turkey is for years trying to have a nuclear power plant but no country in the West is willing to build that for them," Larijani said, adding that Iran did not have a "concrete proposal" for nuclear cooperation with Turkey or another state.