伊朗与土耳其签署核燃料交换协议

Iran has agreed a UN-backed deal on its nuclear programme after mediation talks with Turkish and Brazilian leaders, reports from Tehran say.

来自德黑兰的报道称，伊朗与土耳其、巴西领导人就核计划的调解会谈之后，伊朗同意遵守一项联合国支持的协议。

Recep Tayyip Erdogan says problems with Iran can be overcome

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said an agreement would be signed shortly to send the country's nuclear material to Turkey for processing.

Low-enriched uranium would be made into a form usable in a research reactor.

The West is worried that Iran is trying to build a bomb. Iran denies having a weapons programme.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the talks in Tehran.

"The agreement will be signed shortly, under which Turkey will be the place to keep Iran's 3.5% [low-enriched]uranium," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said after the meeting.

He said that 1,200kg would be sent to Turkey and that Iran would notify the International Atomic Energy Agency "within a week".

'Last chance'

Last year, Western powers proposed that Iran transfer its stockpiles（库存，储备） of low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, who would process it into a form usable in a research reactor before returning it.

The deal was an attempt to allow Iran the benefits of nuclear energy without the concern of it having weapons capabilities（功能，性能） . But Tehran rejected the idea.

The current talks with Brazil and Turkey, two non-nuclear states on friendly terms with Tehran, attempt to resurrect that plan.

"I guarantee that we will find the opportunity to overcome these problems, God willing," said Mr Erdogan before the talks.

Both Russia and the US say the talks represent Iran's last chance to avoid harsher（粗糙的） sanctions.

Mr Lula arrived earlier and held talks first with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then with spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After the meetings, Mr Lula said the level of hope of reaching an agreement "has increased".

The BBC's Iran correspondent Jon Leyne, reporting from London, says the country has given mixed messages about a fuel-swap deal.

He says officials have suggested they are still open to the idea, but have then imposed conditions that the West would not accept.

Iran has been mounting a big diplomatic effort to prevent new UN sanctions; the foreign minister has travelled to all 15 members of the security council.