Turkish PM Erdogan in Tehran for nuclear talks

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to hold talks with Iranian officials about Syria, and Tehran's nuclear programme

Iranian vice president Mohammad-Reza Rahimi and Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan during a welcome ceremony in Tehran. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is in Tehran for talks on the regime's nuclear programme and the Syrian crisis.

Erdogan will hold meetings with senior Iranian officials including the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, during his two-day visit to the Iranian capital, local agencies report.

Welcoming Erdogan, Iran's foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said fresh nuclear talks with the world's major powers, including the US, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain - the group known as P5+1 - were expected to be held on 13 April.

"Istanbul has expressed its readiness to host these talks and is still one of the probable options for hosting these negotiations," Salehi said in quotes carried by the website of the state English-language television, Press TV.

"I personally believe that Istanbul is the better option for hosting the negotiations," he said, adding that the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, had also sought assistance from Turkey in choosing a venue for the talks. "We hope the venue for the talks will be determined within the next few days."

Before his Tehran visit, Erdogan was in South Korea, where he took part in a nuclear security summit and held talks with US president, Barack Obama. There have been unconfirmed reports that Erdogan is carrying a message to Iran from Obama.

At the same time, Saledi said Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general and UN/Arab League envoy, was expected to visit Tehran next week to discuss Syria with Iranian officials, the Irna state news agency reported.

Though they are close allies, Turkey and Iran hold opposite views on Syria. Iran has sided with the Bashar al-Assad regime, backing him publicly on international platforms; Turkey has played host to the Syrian opposition and its refugees, as well as voicing strong criticism of Assad's handling of the crisis.

The Turkish English-language newspaper Today's Zaman, quoted unnamed officials as saying: "Erdogan is expected to press Tehran to accept that regime change is inevitable in Syria and to reverse its steadfast support of President Bashar al-Assad."

According to Today's Zaman, Erdogan will also express concerns over reports of an Iranian transfer of weapons to Syria via Iraqi air space.

"Iraqi authorities have not been fully able to control the country's air space in the aftermath of the US withdrawal. For Ankara, it is unacceptable that Iran sees this as an opportunity to transfer weapons to the Syrian regime," the newspaper reported. Iran has repeatedly denied allegations it has supported the Assad regime militarily.