Iran and Turkey seal swap nuclear deal

After several hours of intense negotiations on Monday, Iran agreed to send some 1,200 kilogrammes of its 3.5 per cent enriched uranium over to Turkey in exchange for a total of 120 kilogrammes of 20 per cent enriched uranium.

In the declaration, the three developing countries reaffirm their commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear weapons.

In accordance with the related articles of the treaty, they reiterated the right of all state parties, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, to develop research, produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.

Brazil's vice-president Jose Alencar said that the nuclear fuel swap deal would undermine Washington's drive to impose fresh UN sanctions against Tehran.

Describing the deal as one that "shook up the world," Mr Alencar hailed Brazil's successful mediation on the Iranian nuclear impasse as a victory for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's diplomacy.

"It was a victory because the president worked for peace, for dialogue," Mr Alencar declared.

James Acton, an expert on the Iranian nuclear issue at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the deal could be "a very good thing" to solve the Iranian nuclear impasse.

"If Iran does notify the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in seven days that it intends to proceed with the fuel swap and it negotiates in good faith to implement the fuel swap, if after that it co-operates more seriously with the IAEA in terms of the questions on its nuclear programme, then the deal could end up being a very good thing," Mr Acton declared.

Predictably, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that "the United States and international community continue to have serious concerns."

Mr Gibbs pointed to what he described as Tehran's "repeated failure to live up to its own commitments and the need to address fundamental issues related to Iran's nuclear programme."

And in London Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman Steve Field said: "Our position on Iran is unchanged.

"Iran has an obligation to reassure the international community and, until it does so, we will continue to work with our international partners on a sanctions resolution in the United Nations security council."