A Japanese nuclear energy expert meanwhile told AFP he doubted Japan now has the technical capacity to follow through on such a proposal.

The offer was made, with US backing, in December during a Tokyo visit by Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, the Nikkei business daily has reported, although Japan's government has not yet confirmed the plan.

"We need to study this proposal by Japan," Larijani said in a speech, a day after he met Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

World powers suspect Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons under cover of its civilian energy programme, but Larijani reiterated Tehran's stance that the fuel is for a research reactor making medicines.

Japan, the only country to have been attacked with atomic bombs, has long been a strong proponent of nuclear non-proliferation efforts, while it also has good ties with Iran, one of its main energy suppliers.

Hatoyama urged Larijani on Wednesday to prove to the world that its nuclear project is for peaceful purposes and not to make weapons.

Teheran should implement UN Security Council resolutions and fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency "to remove all the doubts about Iran's nuclear development", Hatoyama told Larijani.

Iran has so far failed to take up an IAEA offer under which Russia would enrich its uranium and France would process it. Tehran this month said it had begun enriching uranium itself to a higher level.

Larijani was on Saturday due to visit the western Japanese city of Nagasaki, which was hit with an American atomic bomb at the end of World War II, three days after a US nuclear attack devastated Hiroshima.

Hatoyama said he hoped Larijani would see the "horror" wrought by nuclear weapons in Nagasaki. The premier added that Japan regards Iran as "an important country" and wishes to further enhance bilateral relations.

Larijani, in his speech, commented on US President Barack Obama's stated goal of working toward a nuclear-free world.

"I do want him to start pursuing the goal," he said. "The United States have tens of thousands of nuclear warheads. The issue has to be resolved as the existence of nuclear weapons poses a grave threat to the earth."

A Japanese nuclear energy expert cast doubt on whether Japan would have the capacity to follow through on its reported offer to Iran.

"The current capacity is getting short even for enriching uranium for Japan," said Nobuaki Arima, a uranium enrichment expert with the agency for natural resources and energy. "It would be difficult for Japan to accept a foreign country's demand for enrichment, at least for now."

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