Iran's chief negotiator yesterday ruled out discussion of a major powers' demand to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition to end a long-running dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Speaking after a day of talks with diplomats from six countries, including the United States, Saeed Jalili said that in any next round of talks Iran was not ready to discuss a freeze in enrichment proposed by the 'sextet' in return for the UN Security Council halting further sanctions measures.

"We will only discuss common points of the package," Jalili told Reuters.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after meeting Jalili that Iran gave no clear answer to the offer, but that he hoped for a fuller response in two weeks' time.

But a senior Iranian diplomat at the Geneva talks said: "Of course we will not discuss freeze-for-freeze topic in the next meeting with Solana. First we would like to discuss the common points and if an agreement is reached then we can discuss our differences."

"The freeze-for-freeze issue cannot be accepted because this (enrichment) is our right and we will never abandon our nuclear right," he added.

"We have not got a clear answer... we didn't get a Yes or No and we hope that it will be given soon," Solana told a news conference.

But a Western diplomat at the talks said no further high-level meetings had been scheduled. "This is the last meeting at this level," the diplomat said. The high-level US participation in the one-day meeting in Geneva, together with Iranian comments playing down the likelihood of an attack by the United States and Israel, had raised hopes of progress and helped ease record oil prices. But the optimism was tempered by US insistence that despite the presence of its envoy William Burns, real negotiations cannot begin until Iran has frozen sensitive nuclear work, a step Tehran has repeatedly rejected.

Iran's ambassador to Switzerland said Iran would not accept a freeze. "As our supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) clearly said, our path is very clear: We are not going to abandon our rights."