Turkish Foreign Minister goes to Iran for nuclear talks

Davutoğlu was scheduled to fly to Tehran from the Qatari capital Doha late Monday and meet the following day with Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki and other officials.

An Iranian official was quoted as saying Monday that major powers have made a new offer to Iran for the supply of nuclear fuel in return for it shipping out of most of its stocks of low-enriched uranium.

Last week, Iran announced it had started enriching uranium to the 20 percent level required for a Tehran medical research reactor itself after rejecting a plan put forward by the powers last year for the supply of the fuel.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sunday his country is willing to serve as the venue for an exchange of Iranian nuclear fuel in any deal between Tehran and the West.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Turkey could serve as the center for the exchange of uranium ... but there is no agreement up until now," Erdoğan said at a press conference in Doha.

"If Turkey is chosen, it will do what it is asked to do," he said.

Turkey, the only NATO member bordering Iran, has recently engaged in efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the row, arguing that economic sanctions or military action against Iran would harm the whole region.

Western governments have been pushing for Iran to ship out most of its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium before receiving fuel for the Tehran reactor from France and Russia.

Iran has insisted that it should only send out the uranium as it receives the fuel and has demanded that the exchange happen on its own soil.

/Hurriyet Daily News/