Iran and the European Union announced yesterday last-minute talks in the crisis over Tehran's nuclear program but neither side appeared to have new proposals to put forward to find a way out of the impasse.

First word of the talks came from Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Moscow who said Tehran would meet the European Union troika of Britain, Germany and France before a crunch UN nuclear watchdog meeting on March 6.

The talks were subsequently confirmed by Britain which said the EU3 planned ministerial-level talks with Iran's Larijani in Vienna on

Friday.

But a source in Britain said the EU troika had no new proposals to put forward and Larijani in Moscow failed to make any mention of the crucial point - whether Tehran would bow to Western calls for it to stop uranium enrichment at home.

The West, led by the United States, suspects the Islamic Republic is covertly seeking to build an atomic weapon. Iran denies this, saying it is pursuing nuclear programs purely for civilian use.

"Iran requested the meeting, we will listen to what Iran has to say but we have no new proposals," a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said.

"Our talks with the EU3 are being

held for us to say we are in favour of holding constructive negotiations," Larijani said.

Iran's refusal to re-suspend uranium enrichment activity has raised the prospect of action by the UN Security Council, to which the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran on Feb 4.

An IAEA board meeting in Vienna on March 6 will weigh a report by the IAEA chief saying Iran is accelerating a nuclear fuelenrichment drive despite concern abroad it is secretly seeking atom bombs.