ANKARA Ñ Iran has halted the flow of natural gas to Turkey. Turkish officials said Iran halted the flow of gas to Turkey via a pipeline at Dogubeyazit. They said the gas flow ended on Dec. 18 after a series of reductions in exports.

Turkey's state-owned Botas has sent a letter to Iran, saying the halt in the flow of gas comprised a violation of Teheran's 1996 energy accord with Ankara. Officials said Iran has not responded to the halt, which also took place in the winter of 2003.

Iran and Turkey have long argued over the cost of natural gas from Teheran. In 2003, Turkey imported 3.52 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Iran and at one point the flow was at 500,000 cubic meters per day. But over the last few months, the gas deliveries dropped to 50,000 cubic meters per day while Ankara purchased most of its gas from Russia.