The United States envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog will meet Turkish foreign ministry officials this week to discuss Iran's nuclear program, the US embassy said here Tuesday.

The visit on Thursday and Friday by International Atomic Energy Agency ambassador Gregory Schulte was for "consultations with Turkish officials regarding Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and international diplomatic measures to resolve the issue," it said in a statement.

Turkey has so far refrained from criticising neighbouring Iran's hardline stance, calling instead on Tehran to collaborate with the IAEA.

"We are saddened to learn that Iran has resumed uranium enrichment. We hope the issue is resolved through diplomacy. There is still an opportunity for that," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters Tuesday.

The IAEA voted on February 4 to report Iran to the UN Security Council, but left a one-month window for diplomacy, for Iran to return to a full suspension of enrichment-related work and cooperate with inspectors.

So far Iran has reacted by doing the opposite and resumed limited uranium enrichment, setting the scene for a major showdown.

Source: Agence France-Presse

related report

Iran Has No Large-Scale Uranium Enrichment Program

Tehran (AFP) Feb 14 – Iran does not currently have a program for industrial-scale enrichment of uranium, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization said Tuesday.

"There is still no program for industrial production and for enrichment on an industrial scale," Gholamreza Aghazadeh was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying.

Aghazadeh, who was speaking after officials announced that Iran had resumed limited enrichment, said the "enrichement at Natanz will be limited to research … which requires a long time, and injecting UF6 gas into a few centrifuges does not constitute enrichment."

Tuesday morning, Javad Vaidi, a member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said limited enrichment activity had resumed at the Natanz facility.

The move came despite warnings from France, Russia and the United Nations not to take action that might escalate the tense dispute with the West over fears Iran is seeking the nuclear bomb.

Source: Agence France-Presse