IRAN - Apr 26 - Tehran Hints At Fresh Ideas On Nuclear Spat.

Iran heralds what it said was new thinking in the dispute over its nuclear programme amid western scepticism that any breakthrough was imminent. The comments comes at the end of a meeting in Ankara - the first in seven months - between the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. Details of the substance of the talks were sketchy. But Larijani, in an interview afterwards with a Turkish television station, said "new ideas" had emerged that would allow further talks to proceed soon. "I can't give exact details because these ideas need time to be developed, but I can call them a very positive, concrete first step", Larijani told CNN Turk. He had earlier said a "united view" was emerging in some areas of the discussion with Solana. Diplomats said the meeting focused on the conditions for beginning formal negotiations, but that no breakthrough had occurred, or seemed likely at the moment. Senior diplomats from the US, France, Germany, the UK, China and Russia are to meet next week to discuss further steps ahead of Solana's next meeting with Larijani in a fortnight. Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes and that it has the right to enrich uranium. The US and the EU suspect it of trying to develop nuclear weapons. The UN has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran in recent months for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment and Tehran is facing another UN deadline of May 23 to suspend its uranium enrichment or face the possibility of further action. Asked if he and Larijani had discussed a limited suspension as a compromise to enable negotiations to begin, Solana told reporters: We didn't enter any specific discussions of that nature. We have moved on in general terms. Some progress has been made. As you know, the situation is difficult". Speaking on Apr 26 before a Nato foreign ministers' meeting in Oslo, US State Sec Condoleezza Rice, said Iran could not be allowed to practise enrichment and reprocessing "because if that's what they're doing, you get better at it over time - at the same time that we are in negotiations". She told the FT: I have not yet seen signs of [Iranian] flexibility. I don't know what the outcome of the talks is. I hope that they were positive".