Obama reportedly prepared to tolerate civilian Iranian nuclear program

US President Barack Obama would be willing to accept a civilian Iranian nuclear program and has told the Iranian leadership as much, according to an analysis by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius published Friday.

According to Ignatius, Obama will give Iran a green light to go ahead with its nuclear pursuits in the event that the Islamic republic guarantees that its ultimate objective is not to acquire a nuclear bomb – a message reportedly conveyed from Obama to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who met with Obama in Seoul over a week ago.

While Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful, the West – and Israel in particular – has grown increasingly more frustrated with Tehran’s evasive behavior, which has forced it to toughen its stance toward the Islamic republic and place yet another round of sanctions on its leadership and financial sector.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Iran to back up its declaration that Islam bars weapons of mass destruction by agreeing to a plan that would prove it does not intend to develop nuclear arms. She spoke ahead of international talks on Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Though the meetings were set to take place on April 13 in Istanbul, Iranian officials have recently expressed concern over the pressure that Turkey continues to exert on Syria — a key Iranian ally — and have advocated a change of venue.