A senior Iranian official Saturday dismissed the need for a Tehran office for UN inspectors tasked with monitoring Iran's partial nuclear freeze, Mehr news agency said.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency had said the watchdog may ask Iran for permission "to set up a temporary office to provide logistical support," for its inspectors.

UN inspectors are in Iran to monitor the implementation of a nuclear deal with Western powers that took effect on Monday, after Iran stopped enriching uranium above five percent fissile purities at its Natanz and Fordo facilities.

"In our opinion, by considering the volume of nuclear activities in the country, there is no need for setting up a nuclear watchdog office in Iran," said Reza Najafi, Tehran's envoy to the IAEA.

"We have not received such a request from the IAEA for setting up an office in Tehran," Najafi told Mehr news agency.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said on Friday he might seek Iran's permission for a Tehran office for inspectors.

Amano said the IAEA needs to "double our staff and efforts" in order to carry out its role in monitoring the November deal which will require intensive checks over the next six months.

He added the IAEA had won backing from member states for its efforts to monitor Iran's partial nuclear freeze, which will require an extra 5.5 million euros ($7.5 million).

The United States, France, Britain and Germany were among those who had offered to contribute funds, he added.

The IAEA currently has two teams of two inspectors each that take turns to monitor sites in Iran.

Under the deal, Iran is also converting its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium -- a particular concern to the international community since it can be further purified to weapons-grade.

In return, Western countries are partially lifting choking economic sanctions on Iran.

The deal is meant to be a first step toward a long-term agreement ending the 10-year standoff between Iran and the West over its nuclear programme.

Iran says nuclear talks to resume next month
Tehran (AFP) Jan 25, 2014 - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday that talks with world powers on reaching a long-term nuclear deal will resume next month.

An interim six-month accord with the so-called P5+1 -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany -- was agreed in November and took effect on Monday.

That deal requires that Tehran freeze or curb its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for some sanctions relief while the two sides try to reach a comprehensive agreement.

Zarif said he had agreed with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "to hold the first meeting of Iran and (the) P5+1 at the end of (the) Iranian month of Bahman" which ends on February 19.

"We wanted to hold the meeting earlier but our Chinese friends were not ready due to holidays of their new year" on January 31, he wrote on his Facebook page

Zarif, who is at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, did not say where the talks would be held, or when the resumption was agreed with Ashton, who represents the P5+1 in the negotiations.

Under the interim agreement reached in Geneva, Iran committed to limit its uranium enrichment to five percent, halting production of 20 percent-enriched uranium.

Medium-enriched uranium is of particular concern to the international community since it can easily be purified to weapons-grade levels.

In return for curtailing its enrichment activities, the European Union and the United States have eased crippling economic sanctions on Iran.

The West and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear ambitions include developing a military capability, an allegation denied by Tehran, which says its atomic activities are entirely peaceful.

Neither the United States nor its staunch Middle East ally Israel -- widely assumed to be the region's sole nuclear-armed power -- have ruled out military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.