Iran's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that its top nuclear negotiator and the European Union's foreign policy chief would meet on Thursday in an effort to explore whether there's room to resume negotiations over Teheran's disputed nuclear program.

The announcement came hours after the ministry said the meeting between Ali Larijani and the EU's Javier Solana had been postponed. It did not say why it initially said the talks were postponed and then announced the talks were set for Thursday.

EU officials said their preparations have been going ahead as planned for the meeting on Thursday.

"Regarding the last agreements between Mr Larijani and Mr Solana, Thursday, May 31 is announced as the time of the talks," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement.

But the meeting location would be "decided in further consultations," according to the statement. EU officials have suggested that Madrid was a possible location.

On Friday, senior European officials met with a ranking Iranian envoy in Brussels, Belgium to prepare for the Larijani-Solana talks. Officials suggested the meeting was positive in demonstrating a joint effort to try to return to negotiations over Iran's enrichment program.

Iran and the West are in a standoff over Teheran's controversial nuclear program. Iran's nuclear defiance - most recently documented in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that was sent to the UN Security Council - has set the stage for further sanctions against Teheran.

Spy network uncovered

In another development, Iran's Intelligence Ministry said in a statement published on Saturday that it had uncovered spy networks on its territory organized by occupying forces in Iraq and Iraqi groups.

The statement gave few details, saying more would be published in the next few days.

Iran has often accused the United States and Britain, which led the invasion of Iraq, of trying to undermine the security of the Islamic Republic. The ministry's statement did not refer to either country by name.

"The Intelligence Ministry succeeded in finding, recognizing and confronting some spy networks of infiltrating elements from the Iraqi occupiers in west, southwest and central Iran," said the statement, carried by the official IRNA news agency.

"These spy networks were guided by the intelligence services of the occupiers and were supported by some influential Iraqi groups. The detailed news will be announced in the next few days."

It was not clear whether the "spy networks" were linked to the recent detentions by Iran of Iranian-Americans including US-based scholar Haleh Esfandiari, whom the ministry has accused of being linked to efforts to undermine Iran's government.

(China Daily via agencies May 28, 2007)