Iran has expressed willingness to join international talks on its disputed nuclear programme but has not yet agreed on a date and place, the European Union's foreign policy chief said Friday, DPA reported.
Iran says its uranium-enrichment programme is purely meant for energy generation, but the West fears it is designed to build a nuclear bomb. The United Nations security council has hit Iran with several rounds of sanctions because of its programme.
"We got a letter this morning from Iran ... (Iranian chief negotiator Saeed) Jalili is willing to agree a time and a venue to begin negotiations after November 10," Catherine Ashton told reporters as she arrived at an EU summit in Brussels.
Ashton negotiates on behalf of the so-called "5+1" group: the five permanent security council members (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and Germany. Earlier this month, she suggested holding talks in Vienna on November 15-17.
While Jalili did not agree on that date and location, "we are now in touch with Iran to see if we can agree (the) time and venue," Ashton said.
Earlier rounds of talks have always foundered over the question of what negotiators should actually discuss.
The 5+1 want the talks to focus on the nuclear programme, but Iran insists that its programme is non-negotiable and says that the talks should focus on regional peace and disarmament issues, especially Israel's alleged nuclear weapons programme.