EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says Iran has agreed to hold talks at the end of August on the country’s nuclear program.

Ashton said in a statement that Iran’s main nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, agreed in phone talks on August 2 that the Persian Gulf country would “talk again after further reflection at the end of the month.”

Ashton did not specify whether these would be face-to-face talks.

The planned telephone call on August 2 followed face-to-face talks between the pair’s respective deputies in Istanbul last week.

Six world powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, represented by Ashton — have sought through economic sanctions and diplomacy to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear program.

They have failed to reach a breakthrough in three rounds of talks since April.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa
By RFE/RL