The Turkish energy minister says Ankara and Teheran have agreed to postpone the inauguration of Iranian gas exports to Turkey to allow time for a technical hitch to be sorted out.

Earlier the minister, Zeki Cakan, said Turkey had been unable to start the scheduled import of Iranian natural gas today due to a problem on the Iranian side.

He said that a metering station in Iran was not ready for operation.

Iran's deputy oil minister, Hamdollah Mohammad-Nejad, denied there were problems on the Iranian side.

He said Turkey had asked to test the metering system just two days ago and Iran had agreed to the request. Under a 1996 deal, Iran is to supply three billion cubic metres of gas a year to Turkey - increasing it to 10 billion cubic metres by 2007.

The United States has voiced objections to the deal which it regards as a rival to a multi-million dollar pipeline project to carry gas from Turmenistan to western markets via Turkey and avoiding Iran.

Turkey says it needs both projects to meet its energy needs.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service