TEHRAN: Iran on Friday handed world powers its "constructive and creative" response to their bid to end the five-year standoff over its contested nuclear programme, top officials said.

"The Islamic republic has prepared and presented a response to the letter of the six countries with a constructive and creative view and a focus on common ground," media quoted top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili as saying.

A spokeswoman for the EU''s Javier Solana confirmed the response had been delivered Friday evening in a letter to the European Union''s foreign policy chief and to the foreign ministers of the six countries that submitted the offer. She gave no details of the letter.

The spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, earlier said Solana had held "positive" talks by telephone with Jalili, who has fronted talks with Tehran on behalf of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Last month Solana gave Iran a letter from the six foreign ministers and a package offering Tehran technology and negotiations if it suspends uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make atomic weapons.