Iran set for talks with world powers from Oct 1

TEHRAN/BRUSSELS - Iran is set to meet the world’s biggest powers for talks on its disputed nuclear programme Oct 1, officials said Monday.

Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana “spoke this morning and agreed on a date for talks… of Oct 1,” Solana’s spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.

The venue for the talks has not been fixed, Gallach said.

Solana, a former nuclear scientist, has been tasked with negotiating with Iran on behalf of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - and Germany.

World powers had earlier said that they wanted Iran to respond to an offer of direct negotiations with the US by the beginning of the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month.