TEHRAN, Jan. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran will hold a round of talks with the European Union (EU) trio of Britain, France and Germany on Monday in Brussels over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

    An informed source at the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), a body in charge of nuclear talks, was quoted as saying that SNSC deputy secretary Javad Vaeedi would head the Iranian negotiating team while a French representative would head the European negotiators.

    The new round of talks was scheduled following Tehran recently showed some degree of flexibility on a Russian proposal aimed to defuse the escalating Iranian nuclear crisis.

    Moscow suggested late December 2005 that the two countries can establish a joint venture in Russia to enrich uranium for Iran in order to meet Iran's need to run nuclear power plant and at the meantime to guarantee that the technology would not be diverted to military usage.

    Iran had earlier said that it would never transfer uranium enrichment to other countries even at risk of being hauled to the U.N. Security Council.

    On Friday, however, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and SNSC Secretary Ali Larijani said that Iran was considering further negotiations with Russia over its proposal upon the evaluation that the suggestion was not negative though incapable of meeting Iran's needs.

    Larijani's softened stance was posed soon after he paid visits to Russia and China.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday that Iran and Russia had agreed to increase the number of partners in the joint uranium enrichment venture plan, so the two sides need time to adapt the proposal.

    The EU trio, which has been negotiating with Iran since 2003 on behalf of the union, cancelled talks slated for Jan. 18 due to Tehran's defiant resumption of nuclear fuel cycle research work, namely uranium enrichment on a small scale, on Jan. 10.

    The trio has also called the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors to hold an emergency meeting on Feb. 2 inorder to vote for referring the Iranian nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council.

    Based on the United States' accusation that Iran is developing nuclear weapons secretly, the EU insists that Iran's full mastery of uranium enrichment technology would possibly lead to military usage.

    Iran has said that it will never give up its legitimate rights even before the U.N. Security Council, warning that it would resume uranium enrichment at the industrial level if the case was submitted.

    Saying its nuclear research is completely peaceful, Iran has rejected the U.S. charge as politically motivated. Enditem