The negotiations on a trade and cooperation agreement were restarted after the Islamic state agreed to suspend uranium enrichment in an accord thrashed out following intense pressure, notably from the United States.

But the resumption was clouded by a reported announcement from Tehran that Iran plans to resume uranium enrichment soon.

"Suspension of enrichment is for a limited period to win the confidence of the international community," Tehran's top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.

In parallel with the EU-Iran trade talks, the EU also is to resume political talks this week on key areas of political concern, notably human rights and weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

"The resumption... is a clear signal of our wish to work with Iran," said EU external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner ahead of the talks with a 12-person Tehran delegation headed by a senior foreign ministry official.

No details of the talks was immediately available, but EU officials say they will initially focus on "taking stock" of the state of negotiations when they were suspended, and are unlikely to go into substantive detail for some time.

The Iran-EU trade talks, which were launched in December 2002, were suspended in mid-2003 amid mounting tensions, particularly over Tehran's refusal to allow snap inspections of its nuclear facilities.

The resumption follows the confirmation of Iran's suspension of its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But tension remains notably because Tehran has agreed to maintain the suspension of its uranium enrichment activities only as long as the EU trade talks continue.

This agreement was clouded by Rowhani's comments, in which he said Tehran had agreed to suspend the activities "to reach an understanding with Europe for full relations in the political, economic, security and nuclear fields."

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is strictly civilian and peaceful and that it is not developing atomic weapons.

But the United States wants the IAEA to take Iran to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions for what Washington says is a covert nuclear weapons program.

The EU executive branch underlined that the trade talks, which are expected to involve negotiating sessions roughly every two months, are aimed at agreeing a "first generation" trade accord with the Tehran government.

This would not give Iran any preferential access to EU markets, but would confirm its trade relations on the basis of those applying to all other World Trade Organization members, EU officials said.

Wednesday's start of the trade talks will be followed Thursday by the resumption of political talks on key concerns: human rights, regional security, terrorism and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

And EU officials have made it clear that, while there is no direct link between the two sets of talks, problems in key areas of concern could lead to a new suspension of dialogue.

This could include any review of the IAEA's position. "If there was a substantial change in the assessment of the IAEA, we would have to consider what the implications would be for the negotiations," said one official.

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