The European Union is to resume nuclear talks with Iran this week, the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed on Monday, dpa reported.
Ashton is to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili late Tuesday in Istanbul, her office said, confirming a report by Iran's Fars news agency.
"While it is not a formal negotiating round, the meeting will be an opportunity to stress once again to Iran the need for an urgent and meaningful confidence-building step," Ashton's spokesperson said.
They also called on Iran to show more flexibility with proposals tabled at talks in Baghdad in May by a joint negotiating group of China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
Tuesday's talks follow on from a telephone conversation last month between Ashton and Jalili, and aim to build on inconclusive negotiations in Moscow in June, as well as a meeting of technical experts and talks held on the deputy level in recent months.
Edited by: S. Isayev