Japan urged Iran on Monday to halt its controversial uranium enrichment program, hinting Tokyo might support additional international sanctions against the country, media reports said.

The move came as Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, in Tokyo at Tehran 's request after the U.S. presented a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. is pushing for a resolution that would punish Iran with a fourth set of sanctions because of fears Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Okada told Mottaki fresh sanctions would be "unavoidable" if Tehran continues a program of enriching uranium to 20%, a practice seen by Western nations as a cover for the production of nuclear weapons, the reports said.

Okada told Japanese media after the meeting that what he had told Mottaki had "connotations" that Japan might support fresh sanctions, Jiji Press said.

The Japanese foreign ministry's press division couldn't immediately confirm the reports.

Mottaki said that Iran 's nuclear development was strictly for peaceful purposes and that there was no need for the sanctions, the reports said.

Okada also urged Tehran to steadily implement a nuclear swap deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil earlier this month.

Under the deal, Iran has committed to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium in Turkey in return for reactor fuel.

But the deal drew a cool reaction from world powers led by the U.S. , which has pushed for new sanctions against Tehran . Western governments say the deal fails to address concerns about Iran 's nuclear program.

Mottaki told a news conference earlier Monday that he remained hopeful that the swap deal would go ahead despite a frosty reaction from the U.S.

"I don't expect that the deal will fail because of the U.S. position," Mottaki said.

"I can't say how big the chance is in percentage terms, but I have great hopes for the realisation of the deal," he said, according to a Japanese translation of his remarks, which were made in Farsi.

France and Russia previously offered to supply Iran with the higher-enriched fuel.

Referring to the deal with Ankara and Brasilia , Mottaki said, "The deal was different because it was built on mutual trust, but it was the same as previous proposals in that it was a swap deal."

He also said that " Japan has made a similar proposal in talks with the Iranian ambassador to Japan ."

In February, Iran 's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said in Tokyo that Iran would study a Japanese offer to enrich uranium for Tehran to allow it access to nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

Mottaki said Monday that "the plan to ship 1,200 kilograms of uranium to Japan was also discussed, because we have trust in countries like Japan, Turkey and Brazil."

"Then finally we reached the deal that we ship 1,200 kilograms to Turkey. We'd hoped that there would be a four-party deal including Japan ."

Mottaki reiterated that Iran is committed to the civilian use of its nuclear power and observing the nuclear nonproliferation treaty as well as the rules of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He also accused Israel of being "the only country in the Middle East that holds nuclear weapons" and called for it to ratify the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

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