Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday promised to put forward new initiatives on the escalating nuclear standoff.

Ahmadinejad told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan through telephone that Iran was "ready to proceed with" nuclear talks with the European Union (EU) and pledged that he would put forward new initiatives in this respect after forming his cabinet.

Meanwhile, the new president appealed to Annan to help secure Iran's nuclear rights.

"Mr. Secretary-General is also expected to support a member state of the international community to enjoy its rights. Of course, his eminence will refrain from unilateral action," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad did not elaborate on his new initiatives but slammed an EU nuclear proposal as an "insult" written in the style of colonialist discourse.

The latest nuclear standoff came after Iran officially rejected the EU proposal on Monday and simultaneously resumed the work in uranium conversion facilities in the central city of Isfahan.

Tehran insisted that the resumption of uranium conversion facilities not be viewed as a move to close the door to negotiations, stressing that its future activities will be supervised by the UN nuclear watchdog.

The resumption immediately touched off stern warnings from the EU, which termed it as a provocative act and called on the international community to make united reaction.

Annan urged Ahmadinejad on Monday to show restraint in the current dispute with the EU and hoped that Tehran will continue the negotiations to seek an acceptable solution to the prolonging nuclear deadlock.

US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli reiterated that Iran's nuclear case should be submitted to the UN Security Council if the negotiations with the EU collapse.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said that he hoped the current tension would not lead toa permanent breach of the nuclear talks, and expressed "regret" on Iran's resumption of conversion activities.

On Tuesday evening, Russia, Iran's most important partner in the nuclear field, urged Tehran to halt the conversion work "without delay," slightly retreating from its previously stated stance that Iran has an absolute right for uranium enrichment.

Under a call of the EU, the IAEA Board of Governors opened an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the current standoff.

But it has been reported that the agency was just likely to press Iran to stop the conversion work rather than to pass a resolution referring Iran's case to the UN Security Council.

After Tuesday's IAEA session, Cyrus Nasseri, Iran's senior negotiator, said Tehran is willing to continue talks with the EU on condition that Europe abandons its demand for Iran's halt to efforts to construct nuclear reactor.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2005)