"We have a lot of respect for Europe and we have a regular exchange of visits and views," Mehdi Karoubi, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, told the German magazine Der Spiegel.

"But the United States is trying to interpose itself between us and Europe. Therefore the Europeans most act very intelligently," he said.

"We fear the Americans are looking for new excuses, for political reasons, to cause problems for us. But, thank God, the Europeans behave differently."

Iran pledged on Tuesday to show "full transparency" to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reiterated its commitment to the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and stressed atomic weapons had "no place" in its defence doctrine.

"The Iranian goverment has decided to engage in full cooperation with the IAEA ... and clarify and correct any possible failures," its declaration said.

It also said it had "decided to sign the additional protocol" to the NPT. This would allow the IAEA to carry out surprise visits to suspect nuclear facilities.

Iran also "decided voluntarily to suspend all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities", bowing to another key IAEA demand.

If the good relationship between Tehran and Europe did not change, Karoubi said he was sure Iran's members of parliament would soon vote to sign the additional NPT protocol on surprise and random visits to nuclear sites.

But if the agreement with the IAEA was "interpreted politically in an improper way, with a view to intefering in our internal affairs, we shall review our position", he warned.

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