Tehran, Oct 19: Iran has invited the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany to Tehran to follow up on their initiative to settle a dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, the Iranian foreign ministry announced today. Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran had been negotiating with the European Union's big three after they sent a letter apparently offering technical assistance in return for Tehran's full compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demands it prove it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons.

"Since the foreign ministers of Germany, Britain and France have sent us a letter showing their inclination to cooperate with us, we have decided on a constructive dialogue," Asefi said, adding that talks have been going on "for several days".

"It is possible in the coming days that this will reach a higher level -- so we have invited the three foreign ministers to Iran to give their points of view," the spokesman said.

Bureau Report