US sweetens offer to Iran: Diplomats

The United States is proposing "lifting sanctions partially, not only waiving sanctions but actually lifting them," in an agreement to be worked out in multilateral talks that would start once Iran suspended uranium enrichment, said a senior Western diplomat, who requested anonymity.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hand Iran the package of incentives today that seek to persuade Tehran to end sensitive nuclear work, a spokeswoman for Solana said yesterday.

The spokeswoman, speaking in Brussels, said Solana was set to fly to Tehran Monday and present his proposals on Tuesday.

He was due to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani to hand over the package, an EU diplomat, who declined to be named, told Reuters in Tehran.

The incentives Solana will deliver to Iran stem from an initiative put together by the three biggest EU states -- Britain, France and Germany -- and approved by a forum that also included the United States, China and Russia.

Details of the package have not been announced, but diplomats have been working on themes ranging from offering nuclear reactor technology to giving security guarantees.

Washington, which considers Iran a sponsor of terrorism and now fears it is covertly developing nuclear weapons, has since the mid-1990's banned most US trade and investment with the Islamic Republic.

Lifting sanctions would allow sales to Iran of things like agricultural technology and commercial planes to replace the country's dilapidated fleet.

US officials have said they want to keep the details of the proposal secret in order to avoid the appearance of threatening Iran.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that his country, which claims its nuclear work is part of a peaceful programme to generate electricity, would not buckle in the face of "threats and bribes".