TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran agreed with mediators Brazil and Turkey on Monday it would send some of its uranium abroad, abruptly ending its refusal to countenance such a deal just as the U.N. Security Council readied tougher sanctions.

In a sign of Western skepticism despite Iran’s apparent concessions to revive a U.N.-drafted fuel swap plan, Britain said work on further U.N. sanctions on Tehran must continue until it can assure the world its nuclear program is peaceful.

Iran made clear it had no intention of heeding demands to suspend sensitive atomic activities which the West suspects are aimed at making bombs, including work to enrich uranium to a level of 20 percent it launched in February.

“There is no relation between the swap deal and our enrichment activities,” Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told Reuters.

Analysts say Monday’s agreement may allow Tehran to avert new tougher U.N. sanctions, split the major powers and help the leadership reassert its authority after months of unrest and opposition that followed the presidential election last June.

A European Commission spokesman said the deal between the leaders of Iran, Turkey and Brazil may be a step in the right direction, but details needed to be seen.

Moscow, Berlin and Paris also said they wanted more information before commenting, although the French Foreign Ministry added the deal would not resolve core concerns.

“Let us not deceive ourselves, a solution to the (fuel) question, if it happens, would do nothing to settle the problem posed by the Iranian nuclear program,” spokesman Bernard Valero said in a statement.

Junior British Foreign Minister Alistair Burt said Iran had an obligation to assure the international community of its peaceful intentions. “Until Iran takes concrete actions to meet those obligations, that work (on a new U.N. sanctions resolution) must continue,” he said in a statement.

LAST CHANCE?

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Ahmadinejad clinched the agreement after hours of talks in Tehran, Iranian state media reported.

A mediation offer by Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent Security Council members, had been seen as the last chance to resolve the dispute and avoid a fourth round of U.N. sanctions.

Iran said it had agreed to transfer 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey within a month in return for higher-enriched nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor.

No more than one year later, Iran will get 120 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium under an arrangement involving the IAEA, as well as the United States, France and Russia.

Iran, which says its atomic program is purely for peaceful purposes, had earlier insisted any such exchange must take place simultaneously and on its territory.

The deal enables Iran to meet Western terms without dealing directly with major powers. Erdogan, who took a stand against Israel over the war on Gaza in 2008, is a much more palatable figure for the Iranian establishment to deal with and sell a deal at home.

“Iran expressed its readiness to deposit its LEU within one month. On the basis of the same agreement the Vienna Group should deliver 120 kg fuel required for Tehran research reactor in no later than one year,” a joint declaration said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran’s LEU would be under IAEA supervision in Turkey. The IAEA would be notified within a week about the swap deal, he said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on six world powers to start new negotiations with his country.

“They should welcome the major event that took place in Tehran and distance themselves from the atmosphere of pressure and sanctions to create an opportunity for interaction and cooperation with Iran,” Ahmadinejad said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the deal as a “historic turning point.” Erdogan said there was now no need for the world to consider any further sanctions against Iran, echoing a statement by Brazil.

“My expectation is that after this declaration there will not be a need for sanctions,” Erdogan told reporters in Baku, where he arrived for a state visit from Tehran.

There was no immediate comment from Washington, which has been leading a Western push to impose extra sanctions on Iran, seeking the backing of Russia and China.

Major world powers had urged Iran to accept a months-old IAEA plan to ship 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium — enough for a single bomb if purified to a high enough level — abroad in exchange for fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran.

The proposal, backed by the United States, Russia and France, was aimed at giving time for diplomatic talks with Iran.

Tehran agreed in principle to the deal in October but then demanded changes such as a simultaneous swap on Iranian soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable.

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