The UN nuclear watchdog urged Iran on Monday to continue negotiations with the European Union and not to take any unilateral action on the resumption of nuclear activity.

"I call on Iran to continue the negotiation process" with the EU, said Mohammed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a statement.

"I also call on Iran not to take any unilateral action that could undermine the agency inspection process at a time when the agency is making steady progress in resolving outstanding issues," ElBaradei added.

He said the European trio -- Britain, France and Germany -- will hand over promised comprehensive proposals within days for nuclear, economic, security, and political cooperation provided Iran ends all uranium enrichment-related activities.

Iran halted uranium conversion and enrichment last November. Tehran says its nuclear program aims only at producing energy.

Earlier Monday, Iran announced it would remove the seal on the uranium conversion facilities in Isfahan after the deadline for the European Union to submit its proposal on Iran's controversial nuclear program was ignored by the EU.

Uranium conversion, a preparatory step for enrichment, means the process by which the uranium ore nicknamed "yellowcake" is turned into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6).

UF6 can be processed in thousands of connected centrifuges to yield enriched uranium, which can be used to generate electricity and build nuclear weapons.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2005)