In remarks contradicting a statement he made Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini vehemently ruled out a halt to uranium enrichment.
"Suspending [uranium enrichment] is out of the question under any circumstances," he said, reiterating that Iran's nuclear program, which many in the West suspect of being a covert nuclear weapons program, is peaceful and complies with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Iran, a signatory to the NPT, resumed nuclear research early last year, prompting the UN Security Council to impose sanctions in December.
On Monday, Hosseini said Tehran was ready to consider suspending its uranium enrichment activities. "The Islamic Republic has repeatedly said it is ready to consider various subjects at negotiations, including a temporary halt [in uranium enrichment]," Hosseini said.
A deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Saeedi, said Tuesday that Tehran had drawn up proposals on how to end the crisis, and was prepared to present them at possible talks with European officials.
"Iran has ideas and plans, which it will present if negotiations resume," Saeedi said after European officials proposed restarting the talks.
Saeedi said Russia's proposal to set up a joint venture with Iran for uranium enrichment on Russian territory remained on the negotiating table, but added that Tehran preferred uranium to be enriched on its own territory.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani met with EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, the current EU president, on the sidelines of the 43rd Munich security conference over the weekend.
Steinmeier said following the talks that European officials were ready to resume negotiations on Iran, which seemed prepared to return to the negotiating table. Solana was upbeat about the talks, but said the sides exchanged no fresh proposals.
International efforts to persuade energy-rich Iran to abandon its nuclear research resulted in the EU nearly admitting the failure of negotiations in October and speaking in favor of international sanctions against Iran.
On December 23, the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran's military nuclear programs over its failure to suspend uranium enrichment.
