TEHRAN Iran's Majlis Speaker Mahdi Karrubi, meeting with visiting British government Minister Mo Mowlam Sunday, underlined Tehran's "serious" interest in expanding ties with the European Union (EU), the state IRNA news agency reported.

"We are seriously following the policy of detente, dialogue among civilizations, and productive dialogue with other countries, notably the European Union and our serious interest is an expansion of ties with this union," Karrubi told Mowlam on the first day of her four-day visit to Tehran.