Iran yesterday began talks with a delegation from the UN nuclear watchdog on Tehran's controver-sial uranium enrichment programme, state televisionsaid.

"The talks started at 2:00 pm," the television said, adding that the, Iranian team was being led by Javad Vaidi, deputy to Ali Larijani, Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator.

Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director general for safeguards, is leading the IAEA delegation in the discussions, which are expected to last two or three days.

The IAEA is seeking details on how Iran obtained components for its Pl type centrifuges, of which more than 2,000 are in operation at its nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz, and on its research with the more efficient P2 model.

The new talks follow an agreement reached in August for Tehran to provide answers to outstanding questions over its nuclear programme includingpiutoniumexperiments.

Much of the West, headed by the

United States, charge that Tehran is working secretly to obtain nuclear weapons. Iran strongly denies this, saying its work is to achieve nuclear power to generate electricity, to which it has the right.

IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei recently urged Iran to cooperate actively on answering the outstanding questions, warning it that failure would leave it open to renewed pressure.

Tehran has been slapped with two sets of UN sanctions for refusing to freeze uranium enrichment, a process that creates nuclear fuel but can also make the core of an atomic bomb.

The IAEA and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are due to report to the UN Security Council next month on Iran's willingness to give up enrichment in exchange for political and trade incentives. Tehran consistently refuses to give up enrichment.

The major powers, split over whether to impose further sanctions, have said they will await the reports before deciding what action to take.