A senior U.S. Treasury official will be meeting with counterparts in Japan and South Korea this week to urge the strict enforcement of sanctions on Iran and discuss whether additional measures are needed.

The Treasury Department said David Cohen, the assistant secretary for terrorist financing, will be in the region from Tuesday through Friday.

It said he would stress “the importance of robust implementation” of existing sanctions, which are intended to prevent Iran from obtaining technology and materials it could use to manufacture nuclear weapons.

The Treasury said Cohen will also discuss additional steps to target Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups facilitating what it called Iran's “illicit activities.”

Iran insists its nuclear activities, which include a uranium enrichment program, are aimed only at developing peaceful nuclear energy. However the United States and many Western countries suspect the program is a cover for a developing weapons.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said this week that the U.N. watchdog group has received new information pointing to possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program.