UPDATE 3-Iran agrees to raise Turkmen gas price

(Recasts with gas price increase)

By Marat Gurt and Zahra Hosseinian

ASHGABAT/TEHRAN, April 25 (Reuters) - Iran has accepted to raise the price of natural gas it imports from neighbouring Turkmenistan, a senior Iranian official told the semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday.

"Iran has accepted to increase the price of gas it imports from Turkmenistan," said Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Reza Kasaizadeh, refusing to reveal the price.

Turkmenistan resumed gas supplies to Iran on Friday, ending months of closed-door wrangling over prices that has soured relations between the neighbours.

Central Asia's top gas exporter halted daily deliveries of up to 23 million cubic metres to Iran in late December, citing technical issues. Iran has said the aim was to raise the gas price and criticised Turkmenistan as an unreliable supplier.

On Friday, Mohammad Reza Forghani, Iran's ambassador to Turkmenistan, told Iran's official IRNA news agency that supplies resumed on Friday morning.

Separately, an Iranian embassy official told Reuters the deal was reached during a Thursday meeting between Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Kasaizadeh.

"The original volume will be reached step by step," the official said on condition of anonymity. He added that the price was set "in accordance with international standards."