Talks between Iran and European nations in London today made little progress in ending the diplomatic standoff over the country’s nuclear programme, according to a British official.

"To be frank, we didn’t detect anything new in their approach," said John Sawers, a senior British official at the talks, which were meant to asses the chances of restarting formal negotiations with Iran.

Instead, European Union foreign ministers plan a renewed joint call on Iran to end all nuclear enrichment-related activities, warning they otherwise would seek to take case to UN Security Council, diplomats said.

Javad Vaedi, Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator, was a little more upbeat upon leaving the meeting with diplomats from Britain, Germany and France. "Now we can continue opening the chance for talks," he said.

Jack Straw said that the meeting indicated that Iran, which recently restarted nuclear work, had not abandoned efforts to find a diplomatic solution. "The fact that Iran asked for these discussions this morning - they are not negotiations - illustrates the fact that Iran is ... concerned about its international position," Straw said.

But the low-level nature of the talks - Iran has not sent its top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani - led some analysts to dismiss them as a tactic to weaken the resolve of the EU ahead of Thursday's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Authority, when Iran could be referred to the UN Security Council to face sanctions.

Earlier this month, Iran broke the seals at a uranium enrichment plant and said that it would resume nuclear fuel research after more than two years of stop-start negotiations. Tehran's determination to go nuclear has alarmed America and the E3, but China and Russia, which could both veto any sanctions, remain unconvinced that Iran deserves to be punished.

Today's closed-door talks were expected to consider a Russian proposal, made last week, that Russia carries out uranium enrichment on behalf of Iran, ensuring international control over Iran's nuclear project.

Europe and the US are wary of allowing Iran to carry out nuclear fuel production on its own territory, because enriched uranium can be used as both fuel for nuclear power and in the production of atomic weapons.

The Iranian government said on Friday that it was not prepared to accept the proposal because it did not meet "all the nuclear energy needs of Iran."

The results of today's meeting will be discussed at a dinner tonight in London, where Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, will host senior officials from all five permanent members of the UN Security Council to look ahead to Thursday's emergency session of the IAEA.

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