Turkey will continue efforts to persuade Iran to ship its low-enriched uranium abroad to allay international fears over its nuclear ambitions, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

Turkey, a neutral country in the long-running international nuclear dispute with Iran, has agreed to store Iranian uranium as an alternative to a UN-brokered deal that Tehran rejected yesterday.

"We will continue contacts with [the UN nuclear watchdog] IAEA and Iran, seeking diplomatic solutions to issues of crucial importance to the region," Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted by Turkish media as saying.

Iran has not yet responded to Turkey's offer.

Under the compromise proposed by the international negotiators, Iran was to ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for further enrichment and processing into fuel for power plants. Iran would not thereby be able to enrich uranium to make weapons.

The United States and other Western powers have demanded that Iran halt uranium enrichment, fearing it seeks to build nuclear weapons. Tehran insists that it needs nuclear technology only to generate electricity.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday that the country could consider a simultaneous swap of its nuclear fuel for other uranium, but that the exchange would have to take place on its own territory.

The U.S. and its allies have meanwhile stepped up calls for more sanctions against Iran.

ANKARA, November 19 (RIA Novosti)