"Mr Davutoglu received a call from Mr Mottaki who invited him to come to Tehran as soon as possible, preferably to coincide with the visit of Brazilian President" Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said the Turkish diplomat upon condition of anonymity.

"We plan to leave tonight after midnight," the source added.

Lula will be in Tehran on Sunday for a non-aligned summit that the United States and Russia have said might offer Iran's last chance to avoid tough new UN sanctions.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he was unlikely to go to Tehran over Iran's failure to confirm a commitment to a UN-brokered deal backed by world powers.

Turkey and Brazil are both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and have so far resisted US-led efforts to push through a fourth package of sanctions over Iran's failure to heed repeated ultimatums to suspend its sensitive uranium enrichment activities.

Both countries have tried in recent weeks to get Iran to resume contacts with the West and agree to the UN-brokered deal.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff have focused on UN-drafted proposals in October for Iran to ship out most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium in return for a supply of nuclear fuel by the major powers.

The plan aims to allay Western concerns that Iran might otherwise covertly enrich some of its stocks to the much higher level required for a nuclear bomb.

Iran has repeatedly baulked at the idea of shipping out its stockpile before its receives the fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor and has demanded that the exchange happen simultaneously and on its own soil.

Last week, however, its ambassador to Brazil, Mohsen Shaterzadeh, said that an exchange in a third country might be acceptable.

Turkey, which although a close Western ally also has close relations with its eastern neighbour, has repeatedly offered to act as that third country.

It has also offered to arrange and host talks between Iran and the EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton.

But Ankara had expected Iran to confirm a commitment to the UN fuel deal with Turkey as a possible venue for the swap, Erdogan said on Friday, announcing he would not travel to Tehran.

"It seems that a trip to Iran on Monday is no longer possible for me as Iran has not taken that step on the issue," he said. "If necessary my foreign minister may go, or I may go later."

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