Other Israeli security officials said the new missiles would put eastern and parts of central Europe within firing range, including the Czech Republic, Italy and Romania. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the news media.

The report comes as UN members consider slapping sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. The United States, Israel and other western countries say Iran is trying to get nuclear arms, but the Tehran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

The UN Security Council has given Iran until Friday to stop enriching uranium, a necessary step for developing nuclear fuel which, if taken far enough, can also be used in nuclear weapons.

Should Iran refuse to comply, which it has indicated it will do, the Security Council is likely to consider taking punitive measures.

Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, head of the Israeli army's intelligence unit, has warned of the new Iranian missiles in several recent interviews.

Iran already has missiles capable of reaching Israel, but the BM-25 missiles are a significant upgrade over its existing the Shihab-4 and Shihab-3 missiles.

Those missiles spurred Israel to develop its Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system, which is can intercept the Iranian missiles.

Israeli concerns have been heightened in recent months by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls to wipe Israel "off the map."

Iran has also tested several long-range missiles in recent weeks, including a "top secret" missile capable of being fired from all military helicopters and jet fighters, the Iranian state-run television reported.

Iran also tested the Fajr-3, a missile it said can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes.

American intelligence officials have said that Iran is at an advanced stage of developing a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. The United States has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the details of the Iranian missile program.

On Tuesday, Israel launched a satellite meant to spy on Iran's nuclear program. The satellite, launched from Russia, is designed to spot images on the ground as small as 70 centimetres and would allow Israel to monitor Iran's nuclear program and long-range missiles, an Israel defence official said.

Iran has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or material for warheads.

The United States, France and Britain say if Iran does not meet the April 28 deadline, they will seek to make the demand compulsory - despite opposition from Russia and China, the other two veto-wielding council members. The three Western countries have also warned that noncompliance could lead to sanctions, but other allies are wary.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to join the NATO talks Friday, ahead of the scheduled presentation to the Security Council by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Iran's compliance with its demands.

The opening session of the NATO meeting Thursday will focus on bids by Ukraine, Georgia, Croatia and Macedonia to join the alliance. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Tuesday said NATO leaders would "send a signal" on the countries' membership aspirations at a summit in November, but a final decision was unlikely before 2008.

Pro-Western parties in Ukraine and Georgia are hoping NATO will open "membership action plans" with them this year, but further expansion of the Western alliance in the former Soviet empire would face Russian opposition.

"The alliance is moving forward in support of Ukraine's membership aspirations," Appathurai told reporters before the meeting, but he declined to predict any timeline for membership talks.

Thursday's meeting is also expected to discuss proposals for NATO to develop closer ties with other democracies including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea to co-ordinate political positions and peacekeeping operations.

Appathurai stressed the outreach to the Pacific nations did not mean that NATO aspires "to be a global policeman or a global alliance, but said new partnerships were needed to deal with global threats.

On Friday, Rice is expected to push NATO allies for more robust support for African peacekeepers struggling to end political and ethnic strife in Sudan's Darfur region. Ministers will also discuss the expanding NATO mission in Afghanistan which is moving into the country's volatile southern region in the face of mounting attacks blamed on remnants of the ousted Taliban regime.

Appathurai said the allies were prepared for mounting casualties in Afghanistan and insisted "the alliance is completely united in its determination to take this mission forward."

"Our position is clear and well-known. We are against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and this applies to Iran, but we believe that Iran must have an opportunity to develop advanced technologies and the nuclear power industry for civil purposes," Putin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying, after talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

As for the current standoff over Iran's nuclear program, Putin said: "A solution will be found in the course of negotiations."

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must play the key role in dealing with the Iranian nuclear problem, and this issue [must not be] put on the shoulders of the UN Security Council," the Russian president said.

Russia also believed the IAEA board was the best forum to debate the Iran issue, but Merkel disagreed with Putin on this.

"It is a discussion in the IAEA, but also in the Security Council," she said.

Merkel said diplomats from the council's five permanent members plus Germany would discuss Iran in early May. Foreign ministers of those countries were also likely to meet, she said.

Their comments came on the eve of a crucial UN meeting where the IAEA is expected to report that Iran has ignored a UN deadline, which expires Friday, to stop its uranium enrichment activities.

Tehran says it needs the enriched fuel for its civilian reactor project.

Vaziri Hamaneh said that serious discussions were held including security of supply and demand, security of investment in energy and environment issues.

"The best method for security of demand in the oil sector is that consumers should be given opportunity to enter into partnership with the suppliers in investment in oil industry." He said that the conference called for diversifying energy resources and cooperation of the developed states with the countries possessing oil and gas resources.

Asked about the oil price rise, Vaziri-Hamaneh said that oil price is being influenced by political situation, whereas it should be freed from political impacts and economic and technical fundamentals should determine the oil prices.

"As long as political impacts dominate the oil market, price hike will continue," he concluded.

Russian diplomacy has failed so far to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium in compliance with Friday's deadline, set by the U.N. Security Council, for the Islamic republic to suspend enrichment and answer all questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.

Russia has offered to enrich uranium for Iran, something the United States supports. But Iranian leaders effectively have spurned the offer.

"Russia is torn. It is not playing some kind of game. They'd actually like to defuse the crisis," said Victor Mizin, a Russian arms-control expert. "More and more in the Russian leadership are concerned about Iran going nuclear. They understand where the nuclear potential will be targeted: against U.S. military assets and U.S. allies. They don't want this hotbed."

Before considering the American push for economic sanctions, however, Russia wants proof from the IAEA, which will issue a report Friday, that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. The IAEA has said it hasn't seen any diversion of nuclear material for a weapons program, but adds that after three years of inspections Iran still hasn't answered all the agency's questions.

Iranian leaders say they're mastering the uranium-enrichment process to produce fuel for nuclear-generated electricity. The same process can be used to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons.