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Ashton "remains ready to talk and is hopeful this can happen very soon," Reuters quoted a spokesman for the EU foreign policy chief as saying on Sunday.

"This is news to us. There has been no official date set for talks, nor has there been any official correspondence received by... Ashton or her services with regard to a date for talks," the spokesperson added. Ashton made the remark after Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran is planning to begin talks over its nuclear program with six major world powers by late October or early November.

"We think that the end of October or early November will be an appropriate date for talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries — China, France, Russia, the UK and the US plus Germany," Mottaki said on Saturday.

The Iranian minister added that the exact date of talks is being negotiated, and that the venue and level of talks would be announced later.

On September 22, foreign ministers of the P5+1 announced that they seek an "early negotiated solution," which "restores international confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."

Tehran has announced its readiness to resume talks on its nuclear program in September; stating however, that any talks must be held within the framework of the Tehran Declaration.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration in Tehran on May 17, under which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

Despite the fact that Iran agreed to conduct the fuel swap in a third country — a demand by the West that Iran had previously rejected due to guarantee concerns — on June 9 the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran.

Tehran says it sees the declaration as a confidence-building measure that provides an opportunity for cooperation between Iran and the West.

Iran has criticized the UNSC sanctions, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency it has every right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

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