Iran on Sunday denied that it had received a Russian proposal over the transfer of the Islamic Republic's uranium enrichment to Russia, reiterating that the whole process of enrichment must be performed at home.

"We have not received any substantial proposal so far, although some ideas were put forward," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid- Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news briefing.

Asefi's comments were made one day after the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had handed over a formal document to Tehran, which suggests Iran to enrich uranium in the Russian territory to avoid a looming crisis on its nuclear issue.

Russia's compromise proposal, firstly revealed in November, has already been accepted by the European Union (EU) and the United States, which previously demand that Iran must halt all of the enrichment-related work and provide objective guarantees that its nuclear research will not be diverted to military usage.

The EU, the long-time broker of the Iranian nuclear issue, is trying to press Tehran on Russia's proposal, which has been resolutely rejected by Iran.

Asefi said that Iran would just consider proposals which recognize and secure the country's legal rights on peaceful nuclear technology, saying the permission of uranium enrichment activities on the Iranian soil was a substantial standard for such positive proposals.

The spokesman further hailed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposal over foreign participation into Iran's enrichment program as "the best scheme to solve the crux", vowing to promote the proposal by negotiations.

Ahmadinejad suggested in September that Iran would invite foreign companies to participate in its uranium enrichment program, but the proposal was sniffed at by the EU.

Gholamreza Aqazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said on Dec. 19 that Ahmadinejad's proposal was "far beyond ordinary guarantees worldwide."

On Wednesday, Iran and the EU decided to hold another round of substantial nuclear talks on Jan. 18.

The bilateral nuclear negotiations between Iran and the EU, which started after Iran suspended the enrichment-related activities in November 2004, has been stranded since Iran defiantly resumed uranium conversion activities, a precursor to the enrichment, in early August.

Enriched uranium can be used for generating electricity and for building nuclear weapons.

The EU insists that Iran must halt all work for nuclear fuel cycle construction, including uranium enrichment, while Tehran defends it as a legal right enshrined by the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.

The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, a charge rejected by Tehran as politically motivated.

Source: Xinhua