Iran on Thursday rejected US involvement in the nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the European Union (EU), the official INRA news agency reported.

"Tehran sees no reason for Washington's involvement in the ongoing discussions between Iran and the European trio of Britain, France and Germany," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

"US involvement in Iran-EU talks will have no positive outcome if not bearing negative one," Asefi said.

He expressed hope that Europe would act independently with regards to nuclear negotiations with Iran.

"The Europeans should prove that they, in their nuclear talks with Iran, can solve the problem independently," Asefi said.

The spokesman also stressed that Iran would never give up its right to get peaceful nuclear technology.

"Tehran, in its nuclear talks, has never pursued any concession.However, it wants its rights to be observed," he said.

The US, accusing Tehran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, urged the EU to get tough with Iran and refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council if the Islamic Republic refused to give up uranium enrichment activities.

Recently, some European officials have proposed that Washington participate in the negotiations between Iran and the EU.

Bush says US, Europe agree on diplomacy over Iran

Visiting US President George W.Bush said Thursday in Bratislava that the US and European countries have agreed to pursue diplomatic efforts to end the nuclear stand-off with Iran.

"We have a common objective to convince the ayatollahs not to have a nuclear weapon...I know we're all on the same page on this issue," Bush told reporters after holding talks with Slovakia's Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.

"We are united in that goal. Hopefully we'll be able to make a diplomatic solution," said Bush, who arrived here Wednesday on his first visit to Slovakia, the last stop of his European tour aimed at healing trans-Atlantic rifts over the war against Iraq in March 2003.

Bush, who visited Belgium and Germany en route to Slovakia, said Wednesday at a news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that it is vital that the Iranians "hear the world speak with one voice that they should not have a nuclear weapon."

The president, who will later meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bratislava, is expected to raise the Iran nuclear issue with the Russian leader whose country has close commercial links with Iran.

The US has long insisted that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, an allegation Iran has denied.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Wednesday that his country would not give up its nuclear program which he claims is for peaceful purposes alone.