Iran pumped nearly 3.5 million cubic metres by noon and was expected to gradually increase the gas flow, the Anatolia news agency reported Sunday.

The cut in Iranian gas exports since Wednesday had forced Turkey to increase gas supplies it purchases from Russia.

Turkey has been buying gas from Iran via a pipeline from the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz to Ankara since December 2001 under a deal that raised eyebrows in the United States, Turkey's long-standing ally and Iran's arch-foe.