Geneva, July 19:Any freeze in uranium enrichment, “ is out of the question,” a senior Iranian official said on Saturday, rejecting a central demand of major powers at talks on its nuclear program attended for the first time by a senior U.S. official.

The one-day meeting aimed at sounding out Iran’s readiness to negotiate an end to the dispute over its nuclear work has raised hopes of progress and ease record oil prices.

But the optimism has been tempered by U.S. insistence that real negotiations cannot begin until Iran has frozen sensitive nuclear work.

“That remains the U.S. position and it will continue to be the U.S. position,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Washington.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki welcomed the meeting which is reflective of the tone of Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who has a mandate from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take any decision needed.

Western diplomats say they want the talks to clarify Iran’s response to an enhanced sextet offer

Tension has intensified since Tehran tested missiles last week, alarming Israel and unsettling energy markets on fears that conflict could disrupt supply.

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