Larijani, Solana meeting in Berlin Wednesday -Iran

BERLIN, Sep 27 (Reuters) European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator were due to meet in Berlin today for talks aimed at resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, the Iranian embassy said.

An official at the Iranian embassy confirmed Larijani's imminent arrival. Solana's spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

Details of the location and time of the meeting in the German capital were not immediately available. Larijani was originally scheduled to meet Solana on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week but never showed up.

''This meeting was finalised late last night,'' said a Western diplomat in Berlin who follows the Iran issue closely.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have offered Tehran economic and political incentives if it suspends uranium enrichment, which the West believes is part of a nuclear weapons programme.

Tehran says its nuclear enrichment activities are aimed solely at generating electricity and has refused to halt them.

The Washington Times reported earlier this week that Iran was close to a deal that would include a temporary, 90-day suspension of uranium enrichment and clear the way for nuclear talks. An Iranian news agency, however, quoted a nuclear official who denied any plans for a suspension.

French officials said Larijani offered to consider a temporary enrichment suspension at a meeting with Solana earlier this month.

Western diplomats said details of this possible suspension would be discussed at today's meeting in Berlin.

If Iran does not suspend enrichment, the United States and the ''EU3'' -- France, Germany and Britain -- have agreed to ask the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the Islamic republic. China and Russia oppose sanctions and would prefer to reopen negotiations with Iran.

TALKS WITHOUT US ''We will be watching this very important meeting closely,'' said a Western diplomat from one of the six countries that made the incentives offer to Iran in June.

Separately, a European diplomat confirmed a report from German magazine Der Spiegel, which said that the EU3 would be willing to begin preliminary talks with Iran even if it has not suspended enrichment first.

The condition for starting such talks would be a positive result rom Solana's meetings with Larijani -- in other words, an indication that it would suspend enrichment, he said.

Washington would not join in until a full suspension was in place. ''The idea would be to get Iran back to the negotiating table,'' the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The Security Council originally set an August 31 deadline for Iran to halt enrichment but Tehran ignored the demand. The six powers have agreed to give Solana until early October to reach a deal with Tehran for starting negotiations.

If this plan does not result in a breakthrough in the West's years-long nuclear standoff with Iran, the six countries will have no choice but to consider serious sanctions of the kind Washington wants imposed on Tehran, the European diplomat said.

REUTERS AB KN1643