Iran denies Italian date with Cheney

Tehran denies that Iranian officials are to meet with the US vice president in the wake of growing tensions between Russia and the US.

Earlier reports in Italy had suggested that Iranian officials would meet with Vice President Dick Cheney in a bid to ease the tension between Washington and Tehran.

The daily Corriere della Sera reported on Saturday that the recent conflict in the Caucasus between Russia and Georgia had paved the way for Iran and the US to improve their relations.

Iran's Foreign Ministry, however, said in a Monday statement that such reports are 'chimerical'.

The hostile US policies adopted toward Iran during George W. Bush's eight-year presidency have further dampened the prospect of Tehran-Washington relations.

The Bush administration accuses Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of attempting to obtain nuclear weapons and has threatened to launch aerial strikes on nuclear installations in Iran.

This is while the UN nuclear watchdog, which has extensively monitored Iran's nuclear activities and has been inspecting the country's nuclear installations since 2003, has declared that Tehran enriches uranium-235 to a level of 3.7 percent - a rate consistent with the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Nuclear arms production requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent.