"New and constructive ideas were advanced that could lead to later progress," Larijani told reporters following more than two hours of talks with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Solana said: "We are at a very intense period of time" leading up to reports by both Solana and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the UN Security Council next month.

"It's a phase that should be fully exploited."

IAEA inspectors "are in Tehran and are carrying out their duties and negotiations," Larijani said.

The talks came as the United States has been pushing for new, tougher sanctions against Iran, whose nuclear programme was described by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "perhaps the single greatest challenge" to US national security.

But after recent bellicose US remarks, including President George W. Bush's warning that a nuclear-armed Iran evoked the threat of "World War III", Rice said that Washington remained committed to talks to end Iran's atomic drive.

"We are, with our international partners, continuing to pursue a two-track approach on the nuclear issue," she told a congressional panel.

Larijani took part in the talks in Rome even though he abruptly resigned on Saturday, to be replaced by the more hardline Saeed Jalili, who was also present but did not speak at the news conference.

Larijani and Jalili had what both sides termed "constructive" talks with Solana on Tuesday.

Prodi and his Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema have both spoken out strongly in favour of negotiations with Tehran while not ruling out stepped-up sanctions.

Speaking at Wednesday's news conference, Prodi said: "Italy encourages this dialogue as the only tool for finding a solution at the Security Council."

He described the talks with Larijani and Jalili as "extremely important and useful".

Solana is to present a report in November to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and Germany on his discussions with Iran.

The Security Council has passed two resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran, and Washington is seeking a third over Tehran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

Western powers accuse Iran of running a covert nuclear weapons programme, but Tehran insists it is solely interested in generating electricity.

The talks here had been scheduled before the announcement of Larijani's resignation, which was seen as a victory for Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as Jalili is a close ally.

On Wednesday the Iranian news agency ISNA reported that the IAEA's deputy director general Olli Heinonen is to hold talks in Tehran with Iranian officials on Monday.

Heinonen clinched a deal in August for Iran to answer outstanding questions over its atomic programme so the agency can conclude a four-year investigation into its nature.

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