Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tehran Sunday night after a last minute decision to join Brazil in nuclear talks after Iran reportedly signalled readiness for concessions about the location of a uranium swap, DPA reported.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had already arrived in Tehran as scheduled and started talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But Erdogan at first turned down Tehran's plans for a trialteral summit between Turkey, Iran and Brazil. The meeting was intended to finalize an uranium exchange deal that Tehran hopes will settle at least part of the international dispute over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.
On Friday, Erdogan said his participation would be unlikely "because, so far, Iran has not taken a step on the matter."
Erdogan reportedly changed his mind after his foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu held talks with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's atomic chief Ali-Akbar Salehi and chief nuclear negotiator Saedi Jalili, who reportedly made concessions on the venue of the uranium swap and opted for Turkey.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told IRNA news agency that Erdogan will take part in the trilateral summit to discuss ways to still realize the uranium exchange deal, but did not disclose details on Iran's concessions.
According to a plan brokered in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world's nuclear watchdog, Iran's low-enriched uranium was to be exported to Russia for further enrichment and then to France for processing into fuel for a Tehran medical reactor.
Tehran insisted that for guaranteeing a proper implementation of deal, the swap should be on Iranian soil, but world powers and the Vienna-based IAEA refused to have the handover take place in Iran.
Lula and Erdogan were expected to try to persuade Iran to find a third option. Making the swap in Turkey, which is Iran's neighbour, could be the most suitable alternative and acceptable for all sides involved.
The option of taking Turkey as venue for the swap would also be the Islamic state's probable last chance to avoid a renewed resolution by the United Nations Security Council and sanctions, observers say.
Although the uranium exchange deal would not settle more than seven years of dispute over Iran's enrichment programme, it is regarded by observers as a first step.
The talks between Ahmadinejad and Lula on Sunday were mainly focused on economic issues and both refrained to comment on the alleged nuclear swap.
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