Negotiations between Iran and Western powers on Tehran's controversial nuclear drive will resume next week in Geneva, more than a year after they ground to a halt with sanctions having multiplied.

After months of cat-and-mouse offers and counter-bids, the talks will finally restart in Switzerland, on December 6 and 7, the office of the European Union's chief diplomat Catherine Ashton announced on Tuesday.

Iran chief negotiator Said Jalili will meet Ashton, who will lead the international delegation, a spokesman said, in the same city where the last talks fell apart in October 2009.

"We've now received a response from the Iranian authorities in which they have said that Dr. Jalili has accepted Catherine Ashton's proposal to meet in Geneva," the spokesman said.

"Talks between Catherine Ashton and Dr. Jalili will now take place on Monday and Tuesday next week in Geneva."

The talks are aimed at allaying longstanding Western concerns that Iran's nuclear programme masks a weapons drive under the guise of a civilian programme, something Tehran denies.

Washington said it hoped Iran will come to the talks table ready to pursue "a serious process" to clear up international fears about its nuclear ambitions.

"Now that the meeting is set, we hope Iran will come to the table prepared to engage in a serious process to address the international community's concerns about its nuclear programs," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told AFP.

The United States, Europe and Israel fear that Iran wants to use nuclear technology to build a bomb but Tehran insists that its programme is a peaceful drive to produce civilian energy.

English baroness Ashton would lead the "5+1" nations negotiating with Iran made up of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain) and Germany.

Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, the sensitive process which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb.

The restrictions have "without doubt pushed Tehran back to the negotiating table," a senior EU official said on condition of anonymity.

Also Tuesday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against 10 businesses linked to Iranian weapons programs, including eight on the Isle of Man, one in Switzerland and one in Malaysia.

The firms are affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and Bank Mellat, which have been previously targeted.

Disagreement over the meeting's agenda has held up a resumption of the dialogue. The world powers want the talks to focus on Iran's uranium enrichment programme but Tehran wants a wider discussion that includes regional security issues.

"We're also prepared to talk about other issues," a spokeswoman for Ashton said, but "the main goal we were always very clear about.

"We see these talks as a starting point in a process," stressed the spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic. "We don't expect to solve all issues in one day."

After Ashton first suggested Vienna, which plays host to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran proposed Istanbul instead.

Turkey, along with Brazil, agreed a nuclear-swap deal with Tehran in May, exchanging enriched uranium for fuel for Tehran's scientific research.

France said Tuesday the six powers were still prepared to provide Tehran with fuel for a civil research reactor if Iran agrees not to try to enrich its own uranium.

"The proposition made by the Six is still on the table," said French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. "What the Six are waiting for is a response from Iran, which they have yet to receive."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran's atomic body in February to start refining uranium to 20 percent purity levels after an original version of the nuclear fuel swap deal drafted by the UN atomic watchdog fell through.

World powers responded on June 9 by backing new UN sanctions against Iran.

Sanctions notably ban investments in oil, gas and petrochemicals while also targeting banks, insurance, financial transactions and shipping -- all of which Tehran has brushed off as having no impact.

US hits Iran-linked firms in Switzerland, Isle of Man
Washington (AFP) Nov 30, 2010 - The US Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions against 10 businesses linked to Iranian weapons programs, including eight on the Isle of Man, one in Switzerland and one in Malaysia.

The firms are affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and Bank Mellat -- which have already been targeted for their role in aiding Iran's weapons of mass destruction programs.

"As long as Iran uses front companies, cut-outs and other forms of deception to hide its illicit activities, we intend to expose this conduct and thereby counteract Iran's attempts to evade US and international sanctions," said US sanctions czar Stuart Levey.

On the Isle of Man -- an island nestled between Britain and Ireland -- the firms targeted were shipping companies said to be fronts for the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

Nearly 80 of firms have been sanctioned for their links with the Iranian shipping line, which is accused of carrying proscribed military cargoes.

Also sanctioned were Pearl Energy Company and a Switzerland-based subsidiary, who were accused of helping "provide financing and expertise to entities seeking to enter Iran's petroleum sector."

Both were linked to Bank Mellat, which in turn has been linked to helping finance Iran's nuclear program.

Five individuals were also sanctioned.

Iran holds four Gulf Arabs for hunting
Tehran (AFP) Nov 30, 2010 - Iranian wildlife protection officers have arrested four Gulf Arabs on suspicion of hunting a seriously endangered species of bird, official media reported on Tuesday.

The four nationals of the United Arab Emirates, where falconry is one of the leading national pastimes, were picked up in the western province of Ilam near the Iraqi border on Monday, the state-run IRNA news agency said.

"After a three-day investigation, the agents of this bureau were able to identify and arrest four unauthorised Emirati hunters yesterday in the district of Dehloran," provincial Environmental Protection Organisation director Qassem Dianat-talab told the news agency.

"A number of items including a shotgun, a falcon tracking device, a walkie-talkie, falcon blinders and other evidence that they had been hunting Houbara Bustard were confiscated from them," he said.

"The law-breaking Emirati hunters had hunted 10 Houbara Bustard, which are on the verge of extinction, and so they were referred to the judiciary," he added.

The news agency noted that the bird is "highly prized" among UAE sheikhs.

Gulf sheikhs' enthusiasm for falconry has not been without controversy in the past. Before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, several were filmed enjoying their hobby in Afghanistan in the company of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Conservation website birdlife.org lists the Houbara Bustard as "vulnerable because it has undergone rapid population declines over three generations owing largely to unsustainable hunting levels, as well as habitat degradation."

"The principal threat is from hunting by Middle Eastern falconers," the organisation says.