A senior EU representative on Tuesday gave Iranian officials a package of incentives that represents a major initiative by the United States and other world powers to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program.

The European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, center, talks to the media upon arrival at Mehrabad airport in Tehran as Germany ambassador in Iran Baron Paul Von Maltzahn, right, looks on, Monday June 5, 2006. Solana arrived in Tehran late Monday, carrying a Western incentives package designed to coax Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program and told reporters at Tehran airport that the West wanted 'to start a new relationship on the basis of mutual respect and trust. [AP]

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani at the Supreme National Security Council building in central Tehran. Journalists were barred from the building.

Solana had arrived Monday night with the package that was agreed to in talks among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany in Vienna, Austria, on Friday.

He told reporters at Tehran's airport that the West wanted "a new relationship" with Iran and that the package would "allow us to engage in negotiations based on trust, respect and confidence."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said he and Larijani would review the incentives package after the meeting with Solana and respond.

"If there is the political will to solve Iran's nuclear issue without any attempt to politicize it, I think we can come to a comprehensive agreement," he said.

Iran says its nuclear development is for peaceful production of nuclear energy, but Washington, the European Union and others accuse Tehran of covertly trying to build a nuclear arsenal.

The incentives package offers economic and political rewards if Tehran relinquishes domestic uranium enrichment, which is used to generate power but can also produce weapons-grade uranium for nuclear warheads. It also contains the implicit threat of U.N. sanctions if Iran remains defiant.

In a breakthrough last week, the United States agreed to join in multinational talks on the package.

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