Germany's foreign minister said on Monday that if EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator do not persuade Tehran to change its behavior, further negotiations would be pointless, and the matter would be referred to the United Nations Security Council.

Solana is due to meet with Ali Larijani later this week to discuss Iran's nuclear programme after Tehran ignored a UN Security Council demand that it freeze uranium enrichment by August 31.

"If another conversation with Solana does not bring about a change in their attitude, then further negotiations will certainly not bring us further. Then we have to refer this matter to the Security Council," Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a meeting of the heads of German diplomatic missions around the world.

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Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful generation of electricity and will not be used to make atomic weapons as the United States and other countries suspect.

Steinmeier expressed frustration at Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment. He said he was "running out of arguments" for Iran and that he was not very hopeful that Solana's meeting with Larijani would yield much.

"We agreed that Solana will have another meeting with the Iranians, but we have to be sceptical about whether it will work after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's meetings in Tehran," he said.

Iranian officials told Annan they were willing to hold negotiations on the nuclear dispute but would not freeze enrichment as a precondition to talks.