'No UN sanctions on Iran as long as talks continue'

Solana, who made the statement during a visit to Copenhagen, is scheduled to meet Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in an undisclosed location.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Friday said that no UN sanctions would be imposed on Iran as long as talks continued on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

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The United States has said it wants a UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran to be drafted next week.

Solana, who made the statement during a visit to Copenhagen, is scheduled to meet Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in an undisclosed location on Saturday.

"I can tell you that there will be no movement in New York (towards sanctions) as long as meetings with Mr Larijani continue," Solana said.

Solana said it would become clearer on Saturday whether it would be possible to begin negotiations between Tehran and permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany.

The six world powers are to meet on Monday to discuss the issue.

"Saturday's meeting will enable us to see if we can prepare the groundwork" for future talks, Solana said.

Regarding the possible outcome of the talks with Larijani, the top EU diplomat said he was "optimistic but not naive".

"I'm sure that the conversations or discussions will be difficult, otherwise the matter would have been resolved months ago," he said.

"But we have to go into this making every effort in order to succeed," he said.