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During a Friday meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ban expressed grave concern about the uranium enrichment plant being built south of the Iranian capital, according to the press office of the secretary.

Your opinion agreed with the U.S. President, Barack Obama, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a statement released to the press on Tuesday, the Iranian mission to the UN said Ahmadinejad responded in similar language, saying that Ban was then advanced to the opinion of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, for its acronym in English), nuclear watchdog UN.

According to the statement, Ahmadinejad said that it is of grave concern that the UN secretary general, rather than wait for the IAEA, as the competent body to reflect (…) on the subject chose to repeat the same allegations that (some) little Western powers are doing.

The West accuses Tehran of hiding nuclear plant until he was Shortly after being discovered, and repeated their concern that the enriched uranium is used to manufacture atomic weapons. Iran says its only aim is to produce electricity.

Ahmadinejad also rejected unsubstantiated allegations of concealment, and said Iran informed the IAEA of the plant a year earlier than required to the Nonproliferation Treaty, the statement said.

Ahmadinejad made similar remarks at a press conference in New York on Friday.

Iran has acted with the utmost transparency in this regard and should be encouraged for having done so instead of being unfairly criticized, noted the document.

When asked at the press conference on Iranian criticism, Ban reiterated his view that the Iranian plant violated Security Council resolutions of the UN, demanding that Iran halt enrichment. Iran claims to have the right to continue with its nuclear program.

I know that (…) (the Iranians) have informed the IAEA on 21 September on the existence of this but then what happened before Sept. 21 while the facility was being built? Ban said.

So, there's a clear question about transparency, he said, adding Tehran must notify the supervisory body of the UN much sooner.

Iran has said it will let the IAEA inspect the plant, located near the city of Qom. Ban said he hoped the matter would be resolved through dialogue, involving the IAEA.

Iranian officials and representatives of the six major powers including USA, China and Russia, will talk on Tehran's nuclear ambitions on Thursday in Geneva.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip, editing by Tim Pearce Spanish)