Iran Agrees Turkey Nuclear Deal

Iran has signed an agreement to send uranium abroad for enrichment after mediation talks in Tehran with Turkish and Brazilian leaders. Iran's foreign ministry said it was ready to ship 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium to Turkey, in return for fuel for a research reactor.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were at the talks in Tehran with Mr Ahmadinejad.

"Turkey will be the place to keep Iran's 3.5% [low-enriched] uranium," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news briefing after foreign ministers signed the deal. He said that 1,200kg would be shipped to Turkey, and that Iran would notify the IAEA, "within a week."

Under the deal, Iran has said it is prepared to move its uranium within a month of its approval by the so-called Vienna Group (US, Russia, France and the IAEA).

In return, Iran says it expects within a year 120kg of more highly enriched uranium (20%), a purity well below that used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. If the deadline is not met, Iran says Turkey "will return swiftly and unconditionally Iran's low-enriched uranium."

According to BBC News the agreement does not make clear whether Iran's low-grade uranium will be used to make the new fuel or just held as a kind of security deposit, therefore Western governments will fear this is just a negotiating ploy designed to delay new sanctions. Crucially, Turkey and Brazil are both on the UN Security Council, and so have a vote on those sanctions.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who spent 18 hours hammering out the deal with his Brazilian and Iranian counterparts, said there was now no need for more sanctions against Iran.

"The swap deal shows that Tehran wants to open a constructive path... there is no more ground for new sanctions and pressures," he said.