Turkey Urges West To Drop Talk Of New Iran Sanctions

Turkey's Foreign Mininster Ahmet Davutoglu

Turkey's Foreign Mininster Ahmet Davutoglu has called on Western powers not to endanger the chances of a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran by threatening new sanctions.

Davutoglu was one of the signatories, along with his Brazilian and Iranian counterparts, of the agreement which commits Iran to shipping much of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for nuclear fuel for a Tehran reactor.

The deal does not address international demands that Iran halt its own uranium enrichment activities.

Western powers have greeted the announcement with scepticism and the United States has said it will not halt efforts for a new set of sanctions against Iran. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, said it wants "written notification" that Tehran will follow through.

Davutoglu said there was no need to doubt the deal.

compiled from agency reports