Iran, Brazil and Turkey signed a nuclear fuel swap agreement on Monday designed to allay international concern over the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions and avert fresh U.N. sanctions against Tehran.
It was not immediately clear whether the terms of the deal, hammered out in talks between leaders of the three countries in Tehran, would fully satisfy major powers which have been discussing a new round of punitive U.N. measures against Tehran.
Iran said it had agreed to transfer 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey within a month in return for higher-enriched nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor.
No more than one year later, Iran will get 120 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium under an arrangement involving the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as the United States, France and Russia.
"Iran expressed its readiness to deposit its LEU within one month. On the basis of the same agreement the Vienna Group should deliver 120 kg fuel required for Tehran research reactor in no later than one year," said a joint declaration posted by Turkish news channel CNN Turk on its website.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Iran's LEU would be under IAEA supervision in Turkey, state Press TV reported.
Iran, which says its atomic program is purely for peaceful purposes and not to make bombs as the West suspects, had earlier insisted any such exchange must take place on its territory.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on six world powers, which have been discussing further U.N. sanctions on the major oil producer, to start new negotiations with his country.
"Following the signing of the nuclear fuel swap deal, it is time for the 5+1 countries to enter talks with Iran based on honesty, justice and mutual respect," he said, referring to the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the deal as a "historic turning point" and said there was no need for the world to consider any further punitive measures against Iran.
"The swap deal, signed by Iran today, shows that Tehran wants to open a constructive path," he told reporters. "There is no more ground for new sanctions and pressures."
There was no immediate comment from Washington, which has been leading a Western push to impose extra sanctions on Iran, or from the IAEA in Vienna.
LAST CHANCE?
A senior EU diplomat said Monday's agreement could not be considered a breakthrough unless it was fundamentally based on a fuel-swap proposal made by the IAEA last year.
"If they (Iran) are accepting what was originally proposed by the IAEA back in October, then fine, some progress might be possible," the diplomat said in Brussels.
"But if this is some new suggestion that goes in a different direction, then it would appear to be stalling."
A mediation offer by Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent Security Council members, had been seen as the last chance to resolve the dispute and avoid a fourth round of U.N. sanctions.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Ahmadinejad clinched the agreement after talks in Tehran, Iranian state media reported.
"We want to ensure that Iran has its right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment but at the same time gives guarantees to the international community," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters.
"The swap agreement is in a way a confidence-building measure that allows Iran and the international community to have a cooperation that will eliminate doubts."
Major world powers had urged Iran to accept a months-old IAEA plan to ship 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium -- enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level -- abroad in exchange for fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
The proposal, backed by the United States, Russia and France, was aimed at giving time for diplomatic talks with Iran.
Tehran agreed in principle to the deal in October but then demanded changes such as a simultaneous swap on Iranian soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Turkey would have to return Iran's low-enriched uranium if Monday's deal between Iran, Brazil and Turkey was not implemented.
Mehmanparast said Iran would formally notify the IAEA Agency about Monday's swap deal within a week.
Trita Parsi, director of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council, said a potential breakthrough had been made in the long-running dispute, saying Turkey and Brazil had succeeded in filling a "trust gap."
"But will the deal be satisfactory to the U.S.? With the details remaining unknown, it's impossible to speculate," Parsi said in an e-mail comment.