Tehran - A visiting International Atomic Energy Agency delegation and Iranian nuclear officials agreed Monday to continue their talks on the alleged nuclear weapons studies after a three-hour meeting behind closed doors on Monday, Iranian media reported.

The deputy head of the IAEA Olli Heinonen arrived in Tehran earlier Monday to discuss nuclear weapons claims with Iranian officials.

Heinonen, who is the head of an IAEA unit investigating whether countries have secret nuclear programmes, will probe whether Iran has special weapons studies.

"Today's talks were aimed at finding a way on how to deal with these claims," IRNA news agency quoted an informed nuclear official as saying on condition of anonymity.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Sunday played down the claims of alleged "weaponisation studies" saying Heinonen's visit was within the framework of Tehran-IAEA cooperation.

"These are baseless and unfounded allegations. We have presented our evaluation to the agency regarding the alleged studies," Hosseini told a news conference in Tehran.

An unnamed official had not ruled out talks on the weapons claims adding that such negotiations demonstrated Iran's goodwill, IRNA reported earlier Monday.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei circulated a progress report on the investigation last February, saying that questions remained on alleged weaponization studies, including high explosives testing, the uranium refining processing stage known as "green salt," and the design of a missile re-entry vehicle.

The West fears that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons which Tehran denies saying its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.

The United Nations Security Council has already issued three resolutions against Iran, including sanctions, for defying the suspension of its nuclear programmes, especially the uranium enrichment process. (dpa)