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Iran has signed an agreement brokered by Brazil to ship low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for nuclear fuel for its power plant, according to official media.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, signed the deal on Monday following a breakfast with his Brazilian counterpart and the Turkish prime minister.
The move aims to ease Western concerns over Iran's nuclear program, and stave off a possible new round of sanctions by the United Nations.
Reports said Iran had agreed to swap 1,200kg of uranium for the higher-enriched nuclear fuel, which would be used in a medical research reactor.
Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, said in the event the deal is not implemented, Iran's uranium must be returned.
"Based on the agreement signed this morning, if the swap does not take place, then Turkey will be obliged to send back our dispatched uranium immediately and unconditionally," Mottaki said.
'Last-ditch attempt'
The deal was first announced late on Sunday after what Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, said was "almost 18 hours of negotiations".
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, was in Tehran for a Group of 15 summit scheduled to begin on Monday morning, while Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, postponed a trip to Azerbaijan on Sunday to join the negotiations.
Lula's visit, which has included a meeting with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, was considered a last-ditch attempt to mediate a deal before the UN security council began discussing further sanction.
The US and Russia had warned that the chances of success were weak. But before the talks, Tehran signaled a willingness to listen to any proposals.
"We have received many proposals and we are considering them," Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's atomic chief, was quoted as saying on Saturday in local media.
"There is a willingness on both sides to resolve the problem and things are moving positively."
Iran has previously been reluctant to allow its stockpile of uranium to leave the country before receiving the nuclear fuel, saying that the exchange must take place simultaneously inside the country.
Last week, however, Mohsen Shaterzadeh, Iran's ambassador to Brazil, said that an exchange in another country might be acceptable.
Brazil and Turkey, both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, had resisted US-led efforts to push through new sanctions against Iran over its failure to accept repeated ultimatums to stop uranium enrichment activity.
"I think Iran has an interest in keeping Turkey on its side, in keeping Brazil on its side, and it has an interest to add more friends than enemies," Mahjoob Zweiri, an Iran expert at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera.
The US and its allies say that Iran wants highly enriched uranium to make an atomic weapon, but Tehran says its program is simply designed to meet its civilian energy needs.
PHOTO CAPTION
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right) during a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Tehran.
Al-Jazeera
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