PARIS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union is considering regional security guarantees to Iran if Teheran agrees to abandon sensitive nuclear activities, the French foreign ministry said Friday.

    The offer would be made by the European troika comprising France, Germany and Great Britain at the meeting of the six countries, that is, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and United States, on May 19 in London, according to French Foreign Ministry's spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei.

    Besides economic measures and other steps, security guarantees would be offered to Iran so that it would have access to civilian nuclear power for peaceful purposes if it renounced activities suspected of creating a nuclear weapon capability, said the spokesman.

    "Ideas are also under consideration about what kind of securityguarantees could be given to Iran taking into account the regionaldimension," he said.

    To the question on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's call on Washington to open direct dialogue with Iran, Mattei said it was for the Americans to decide.

    According to the French spokesman, Paris favors Washington's involvement in the negotiation with Iran.

    "It is important that the United States would be associated to the work that is led by the Europeans on the positive offer to made to Iran," he said. Enditem