A Brazilian official said his country was optimistic about the outcome of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's talks in Iran, which is faced with a growing threat of new UN sanctions over its controversial atomic programme.

"The president remains optimistic about the nuclear talks," a Brazilian delegation member told AFP on condition of anonymity. "There are still ongoing negotiations and we have to wait until the end of the talks tomorrow (Monday)."

In a 11th-hour change of plan, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that he was postponing a visit to Azerbaijan to attend the talks in Tehran.

Erdogan said as late as Friday he was unlikely to join his Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the trip because of Iran's failure to confirm a commitment to a UN-brokered deal backed by world powers for an exchange of nuclear fuel.

Iran had invited Turkey for talks to coincide with the visit of Lula, a Turkish diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lula arrived 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.

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.

Iran's state-run Press TV said on its website Erdogan would have three-way talks with the Iranian and Brazilian leaders and was also invited to take part in the Tehran meeting on Monday of the G-15 group of developing nations.

Earlier, a statement on Ahmadinejad's website said he "thanked the Brazilian president's stance in support of Iranians' rights and the position he adopts for improving the world," without mentioning the nuclear issue directly.

Before his two-day trip, Lula told reporters in Moscow he was "optimistic" and hoped to be able to persuade Ahmadinejad to reach an agreement with the West over Iran's controversial nuclear enrichment programme.

But the United States and Russia have already said the chances of success are weak, and Turkey appeared to have given up hope of its neighbour avoiding further sanctions.

Iran has rejected a UN proposal to enrich abroad the uranium it says it needs for a nuclear research reactor. The West fears Iran wants highly enriched uranium to make an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said Lula's talks with Iran "may be the last chance before the adoption of appropriate decisions within the framework of the Security Council."

And a senior US State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity that the visit was being seen as "perhaps the last big shot at engagement."

Russia's agreement would leave China as the last holdout among the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, bringing the prospect of sanctions much nearer.

Lula, who heads a 300-strong delegation, also met the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who denounced the "noise" made by Western powers over his visit.

"Domineering powers headed by America are unhappy with cooperation between independent countries," Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iranian state television.

Lula later told a trade meeting that a "global financial crisis has increased interest in having trade with Iran.

"We should work to remove obstacles for Iran to fully join the World Trade Organisation," he said, as the two countries signed 10 memorandums of understanding on issues including economic, mining and energy cooperation.

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