Tehran, Sep 10 (DPA) Iran Sunday reiterated its willingness to settle the nuclear dispute through negotiation, but at the same time stressed it would not accept suspension of uranium enrichment.

"Our aim is settling the issue through negotiations, but the question of uranium enrichment suspension belongs to the past and we will not return to the past," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said during a press briefing here.

"If the other side has something to say about suspension, we will be ready to listen, but we will not accept any preconditions for negotiations," the spokesman added.

Assefi termed the first round of talks between European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and Iranian chief nuclear envoy Ali Larijani as "positive and useful", but refrained from giving further details before the end of the second round of talks which is to be held later Sunday in Vienna.

"Either the path of negotiations will be taken or the path of the UN Security Council. We will maintain in both cases our logic and while stressing on our internationally acknowledged rights, we are also willing to remove international concern," the spokesman said.

While warning Iran would adopt new policies if the West decided to adopt the confrontation course, Assefi said Tehran did not predict any sanctions being imposed but was nevertheless prepared for this probability and "would not be taken by surprise".

Tehran says according to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Islamic state is entitled to have civil nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment, but at the same time is ready to present guarantees that its nuclear programmes would remain peaceful and not contain secret military projects.