Turkey offers to store Iran's uranium

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Turkey is proposing to store some of Iran's enriched uranium in the latest sign of warming relations between the Muslim countries, the BBC reported Saturday.

The broadcaster, without citing sources, reported that Turkey and the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency are discussing a proposal wherein Ankara would agree to store Iranian uranium shipped abroad to be reprocessed for civilian uses.

Western critics say the amount of uranium Iran is enriching is sufficient to produce a nuclear weapon, and it is facing international pressure to accept an offer from Russia and France to reprocess the uranium abroad. But Iran has been reluctant to do so, and Turkey's entry into the picture may help overcome the deadlock with the U.N. Security Council, the BBC said.

Alarm bells were reportedly raised in the West last month when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warmly received Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting in Tehran. It's the latest example of Turkey's ambitions to become a Mideast power broker and influence events in the region, the British broadcaster said.