A senior Iranian lawmaker warned that his country would limit the inspections by the UN atomic watch dog to its nuclear sites if Tehran is imposed sanctions over its nuclear disputes, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported Sunday.

"There's no doubt that the space for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors would be limited if taking such a step (UN sanctions), and their current opportunities will be denied," Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of Iran's parliamentary national security commission, was quoted as saying.

Borujerdi made the remarks while representatives from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the United States were discussing possible measures on Iran after it's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment work by Aug. 31.

The high ranking lawmaker also warned the European Union (EU) not to push Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, saying "they will miss a valuable opportunity if they leave the talks and they will suffer more losses than Iran by this decision."

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had reached an 11-point accord and "negotiations could move forward on this basis to reach a result satisfying both sides", he added.

However, according to Solana, the talks between Iran and the EU, which have been staged for four rounds, had failed to reach an agreement. Solana said last week that talks with Iran had broken down.

In recent days, Iran's top officials, especially President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have reiterated many times that Iran would not step back on its legal nuclear rights, warning the West not to imagine that the country would suspend uranium enrichment for even one day.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July, urging Tehran to suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, or face prospect of sanctions.

Despite Tehran's failure to meet the UN demand, EU foreign ministers decided in September to maintain serious talks with Tehran in efforts to solve Iran's nuclear issue through diplomacy.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2006)