TEHERAN, January 23 (RIA Novosti) - One of Iran's top security officials will visit Moscow Wednesday, the Russian Embassy in Iran said Monday.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, will be visiting Moscow at the invitation of Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, who visited Teheran in November 2005, the embassy said.

The visit is taking place against the backdrop of a major international dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programs. A number of countries have claimed Iran is developing a secret weapons program, whereas Tehran has consistently said that it is only seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Iran said two weeks ago that it was resuming research into uranium enrichment, abandoning a two-year moratorium. The announcement provoked fears among other countries that Tehran could use the technology to produce weapons-grade material as well as nuclear reactor fuel.

The United States has insisted that the country's "nuclear file" be referred to the UN Security Council, which has the right to impose sanctions if it finds Iran to be in breach of its international commitments.

An Iranian delegation is due to arrive in Moscow on February 16 for talks that are likely to focus on a Russian proposal to enrich uranium for Iranian nuclear power plants on its own territory. The proposal has been seen as a compromise with the potential to resolve the current standoff.