WASHINGTON: Iran has agreed to resume talks on its nuclear program, Turkey’s foreign minister said Friday, but a diplomat from one of the countries seeking a diplomatic solution saw no sign of fresh talks. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters he had recently been to Tehran and sought to encourage Iran to revive talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany.

“They agreed,” he said, stressing Turkey’s preference for a diplomatic solution to address questions about Iran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is a cover to develop an atomic bomb. Iran says it is for purely peaceful power generation.

However, the diplomat from a country within the group of major powers said it has yet to receive an Iranian response to a letter from European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, a key demand by the major powers for resuming talks.

“What we are asking of them is relatively straightforward. We need them to make absolutely clear that among the agenda items we are going to talk about ... is their nuclear program and they need to convey that in an official and clear way,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We need a demonstration of seriousness,” the diplomat said, adding that there was no sign yet that the Iranians were prepared to resume talks. Analysts consider that a remote possibility before Iran’s parliamentary elections on March 2.

Davutoglu also repeated Turkey’s opposition to any military strike against Iran.

There has been speculation for months that Israel might launch such an attack and Israeli officials have openly said that time may be running out for airstrikes to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. Israel Friday said it had successfully tested an upgraded radar for the Arrow missile defense system, developed with the United States and designed to intercept projectiles that might be fired from Iran.

Defense official Yair Ramati says the test was conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

“[A] military strike is a disaster. It should not be an option, especially at this historic turning point in our region,” Davutoglu said at a Washington think tank. “We will never, never endorse any military strike.”

He suggested that a negotiated outcome could be based on previous ideas under which Iran would give up some of its enriched uranium and would, in return, receive fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, which produces medical isotopes.

“The same framework could be used for [a] fuel exchange,” Davutoglu said. “Or there could be a new deal saying to Iran, ‘OK, we will provide you fuel – 20 percent enriched uranium – but you will stop’” enriching to 20 percent.