Reuters- Turkmenistan is ready to continue talks with Iran after cutting gas supplies to Tehran this month, but also has the right to take the dispute to arbitration, the Central Asian nation's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry said in a statement that Iran's debt stemmed from the National Iranian Gas Company's failure to abide by the "take or pay" provision of the gas supply contract.

(Reporting by Marat Gurt; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)