Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will brief Malaysia on his country's controversial nuclear programme during a three-day visit beginning tomorrow, the Foreign Ministry said.

"Apart from exchanging views... the president is expected to brief Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi about Iran's nuclear programme," the ministry said in a statement today.

The visit is Ahmadinejad's first to Malaysia since he took office in August 2005 after scoring a shock election win in the face of more moderate forces.

He will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who is on a global tour as part of last-ditch efforts to avoid referring the issue of Iran's nuclear programme to the United Nations Security Council.

Malaysia currently heads the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world's biggest grouping of Muslim nations. It has voiced support for Iran's nuclear programme to meet its energy needs.

Iran has said that its nuclear drive is for peaceful purposes and is not aimed at making weapons of mass destruction.

But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, on Monday issued a report saying that questions remained about the programme.

Potential economic sanctions

The 35 member states on the IAEA's board of governors are due to meet on March 6 to discuss the report and could refer Iran to the Security Council for potential economic sanctions.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said last September that the world should not put Iran "to the wall" over the nuclear issue, and that no one wanted to see it blow up into an Iraq-like conflict.

Ahmadinejad is to hold talks with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, have an audience with King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin and deliver a lecture on "International Issues and Role of the Muslim World".

The president is scheduled to arrive late Wednesday and on Thursday will be accorded a red carpet welcome at parliament square.

Ahmadinejad has been a fixture in the headlines since coming to power, branding the Jewish state a "tumour" that should be "wiped off the map" or moved as far away as Alaska, and dismissing the Holocaust as a myth.