A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said on Friday that Iran and the European Union (EU) had clarified their viewpoints during a round of negotiations held in Vienna earlier in the day, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"A constructive atmosphere reigned over Friday talks with the European trio (of Britain, France and Germany), in which Iran and Europe agreed on some points, although there were disagreements as well," Javad Vaeidi, Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.

Vaeidi made the comments during an interview with Iranian media in Vienna soon after an Iranian delegation led by chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani held talks with foreign ministers of the European trio.

Vaeidi defined the talks as "held at a high political level and relying on both sides' political will to reach a shared agreement".

"During this round of talks the two sides reached the required agreements on the need for solving Iran's nuclear case at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he added.

The senior Iranian nuclear negotiator also said that the latest status of Iran-Russia talks on a Russian proposal over uranium enrichment on the Russian soil was also "surveyed" during the talks with the Europeans.

Russia proposed last December that the two countries establish a joint venture in Russia to enrich uranium for Iran, holding that the offer would secure Iran's legal nuclear rights while guaranteeing the peaceful use of the technology.

Friday's bilateral negotiations, came one day after Larijani concluded two days of discussions with Russian officials on the compromise plan, were viewed as a last-ditch effort by the Iranian side to cool down the tension before the upcoming IAEA meeting on Monday.

However, due to Iran's rejection to return to a moratorium on its activities related to uranium enrichment, Tehran's latest talks with Russia and the EU failed to make tangible breakthrough.

The IAEA board of governors in early February adopted a resolution to report Iran's case to the UN Security Council, but called on the powerful UN body to withhold punitive actions until the agency's meeting on March 6.

The current tension over Iran's nuclear issue came after Tehran resumed nuclear fuel research work on Jan. 10 and the crisis escalated as Iran disallowed the IAEA's snap inspections and resumed small-scale enrichment work, a retaliative move against the IAEA resolution.

The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, and the EU, echoingly insisting that Iran's full mastery of nuclear fuel cycle technology would possibly lead to military usage, has been trying to press Iran to transfer its uranium enrichment to Russia.

But Iran insists that its nuclear program is fully peaceful and aimed at meeting rising domestic demand for electricity, vowing not to give up its rights.

Source: Xinhua