EU3

This development was driven by a 29.6% increase in receipts from residents of the EU28, which came to EU3,422 million, as receipts from residents outside the EU28 edged down by 0.2% to EU1,287 million.

It quoted others as saying the EU3 wanted to encourage a more hardline outcome of Washington's review of its Iran policy, expected to be completed next month.

In September, the EU3 plus three foreign ministers agreed that if discussions between Iran and the IAEA, and with Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, did not show a positive outcome by November we would press for further Security Council action.

In late 2004, France, Germany, and the UK (the "EU3") opened talks with Iran on a long-term agreement on nuclear, economic, and security cooperation.

This latest plan has been hatched to try and get round the impasse reached on 8 May in New York during a meeting of EU3 Foreign Ministers (from Germany, France and the United Kingdom) and the United States on one side and Russia and China on the other, the latter having refused to accept a Resolution which would result in sanctions being imposed on Iran.

Avoiding UN action was at the heart of Iran's decision to open negotiations with Britain, France and Germany (the EU3) in 2003 and to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to its nuclear sites, according to Hassan Rowhani, who was replaced as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator after Ahmadi-Nejad took office in August 2005.

It was said last week that Rafsanjani was now behind decisions pertaining to Iran's negotiations with the EU3 (France, Germany and the UK) over the nuclear issue and that, in close co-ordination with Khamenei, he was to steer the Iranian side of the negotiations towards a compromise deal with the EU3 and the US.

The three countries form the so-called ''EU3,'' which has been negotiating with Iran for two years in an effort to persuade it to abandon all activities that might be used to make nuclear weapons.

Negotiations between Iran and the EU3 (France, Germany and the UK) over the nuclear issue are to be resumed shortly.

Although he now heads the Atomic Energy Organisation (AEO), Aghazadeh has little involvement in current Iranian negotiations with the European powers (EU3) over Iran's nuclear development programme, which the US suspects to be intended for production of atomic bombs.

While the US is convinced that Iran is hiding a secret programme to build nuclear weapons, the EU3 are only slightly less categorical in their assessment.