Three legal experts of the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, were holding talks with Iranian counterparts, said the spokesman of Iran's nuclear energy organisation, Saber Zaimian, quoted by IRNA.

Iran will decide in line with its "national interests" whether to accept snap inspections and submit its choice to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for final approval, a government spokesman said earlier the same day.

The Islamic republic is under strong international pressure to prove it is not secretly developing atomic weapons by signing an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The IAEA experts will explain the implications of Tehran signing the protocol, which would allow UN inspectors to descend without warning on suspect sites undeclared by Iran.

"After these people come to Iran and we listen to their reasons and justifications, then we will decide whether to sign the IAEA's additional protocol," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said last week.

The Iranian government asked the IAEA experts to visit Tehran before taking a final decision on whether or not to comply.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is peaceful, and says that Western countries are bound by the NPT to assist it technically.

But Islamic conservatives say signing the additional protocol would sacrifice national independence to a Western "conspiracy".

Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said Monday the government had a "positive attitude" to the protocol, while calling on the international community to "stick to its obligations" to Iran.

A second IAEA team will carry out routine inspections before drawing up a report on Iran's nuclear facilities due to be released on September 8, the watchdog agency said last week.

Iran's representative at the Vienna-based IAEA has advised his government to agree to no-notice inspections and said he hoped the additional protocol will be signed by the agency's next board of governors meeting in September.

"We are currently in a situation in which the protocol can help us settle some problems and close the political file opened on our nuclear activities," Ali Akbar Saleh said in reference to US-led criticism.

Last month, European Union foreign ministers expressed "increasing concern" over Iran's nuclear programme and demanded Iran's unconditional acceptance of the additional protocol.

Salehi warned there was a real danger the IAEA might refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council, as threatened by the regime's arch-enemy, the United States.

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