GENEVA, March 9: Negotiators from Iran and the European Union met On Wednesday in Geneva on Tehran's nuclear programme, with Iran flatly refusing to accede to the Europeans' key demand that it abandon uranium enrichment , a fuel process that can also make atom bombs.

Britain, France and Germany want Iran to abandon enrichment as a guarantee against it developing nuclear weapons and are offering in return trade concessions and other rewards.

"There is some very hard haggling going on," a senior European diplomat said. Iran said on Tuesday it had already gone far enough in providing 'objective guarantees', insisting that its nuclear intentions are peaceful and warning that an EU refusal to accept this would bring negotiations to a dead-end.

Ali Agha Mohammadi, a spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in Tehran that 'the Europeans should give their guarantees' that Tehran can continue with fuel cycle work, which Iran says it is permitted by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) for peaceful purposes.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely meant to meet civilian electricity needs. However, the United States says Iran is trying to covertly develop nuclear weapons and wants to bring Tehran before the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions. -AFP