Iran has not accepted a proposal of the European Union (EU) to trade nuclear technology with its uranium enrichment program.

"It is just at the initial stage. The matter has to be considered on both sides," Sirius Naseri, an Iranian official said Thursday.

At a three-hour closed-door meeting with Germany, France and Britain at the French mission to the United Nations, Iran and the EU trio agreed to have further talks before the Nov. 25 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Naseri said.

However, the official declined to respond to questions as to whether Iran would follow the IAEA's resolution and halt its uranium enrichment program by Nov. 25.

The EU offer, which included the provision of a light-water nuclear reactor, nuclear fuels and nuclear technology, received reluctant blessings from the United States, which suspected that Iran was using the talks to buy time and that EU technology would be employed in developing nuclear weapons.

The EU offer came a day after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said his country would not yield to pressure and stop enriching uranium, which he insisted was only for power generation and was totally transparent.

Iran would like to have talks on the issue under the prerequisite that the country's lawful rights to nuclear activities for peaceful purposes were observed, he said.

The meeting was the last efforts by the EU to unlock the two-year standoff before the IAEA met on Nov. 25. If Iran rejects the offer, most European nations would back Washington's stance to bring the issue before the UN Security Council for possible economic sanctions.

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2004)