He also repeated that Tehran was ready to hold more negotiations over the supply of fuel for the internationally-supervised reactor located in the Iranian capital.

"The main issue is how to get a guarantee for the timely supply of fuel which Iran needs," Soltanieh was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

"We are ready to have negotiations with a positive approach, but because of lack of confidence with the West, we need to have those guarantees."

His comments come days after Iran rejected a deal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which proposed Tehran sending most of its stock of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France for converting into fuel for the research reactor.

Iran dismissed the deal but said it was ready for a simultaneous exchange of its LEU with the fuel inside the country.

Western powers are strongly backing the IAEA-drafted deal as they fear Iran could enrich its LEU further to higher levels and use it in making atomic weapons, a charge vociferously denied by the Islamic republic.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.