An Iranian high-ranking nuclear official said yesterday that Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani would not discuss suspension of the country's uranium enrichment work in the new round of talks with European Union (EU)foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

"These issues will not be discussed in the next round of negotiations," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, was quoted as saying in Moscow where he was attending a meeting with Russian officials to discuss issues of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

"As Mr. Larijani has already said, the six-nation package will be the basis for future talks with Mr. Solana," he added.

The U.S. daily Washington Times reported on Tuesday that Iran was close to agreeing on a secret deal to suspend its enrichment activities for 90 days, to pave way for more talks with European countries.

Larijani is scheduled to meet with Solana this week in one of the European capital cities. The two held their last round of talks on Sept. 9 at the Austrian Chancellor's Palace in Vienna. Both of them considered previous talks as constructive.

The United States had previously been pushing for sanctions after Iran failed to meet a UN Security Council resolution callingfor Tehran to halt uranium enrichment by August 31.

"Iran needs to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, and it needs to do so in a verifiable way. If it does, we can start negotiations. If it doesn't, we move to sanctions. It is a clear and unambiguous standard," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told the Washington Times recently.

At an informal meeting in Brussels earlier this month, EU foreign ministers decided to maintain serious talks with Tehran inefforts to solve Iran's nuclear issue through diplomacy.