Turkey's Erdogan offers to mediate between US, Iran to ease nuclear tensions

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is willing to mediate between the US and Iran to ease tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.

In comments published Thursday, Erdogan said he had discussed the issue of a possible mediation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting.

Erdogan says Abe asked the Turkish leader whether Ankara and Tokyo could act together, to which Erdogan responded that he would be willing to meet with Iran's leaders.

He spoke to Turkish journalists during a visit to China with the comments published in the pro-government Sabah newspaper.

Iran has warned that it will increase its enrichment of uranium as tensions rise a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The move was seen as a way of exerting pressure on Europe to try and salvage the deal which has been hanging by a thread since US President Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing from the accord and reimposing biting sanctions on Tehran.

Agencies contributed to this report.