The French foreign ministry said Tuesday that contacts were underway to decide whether a ministerial meeting is to be held next week between Britain, France, Germany and Iran over the Iranian nuclear issue.

"We're working on the organization of a ministerial-level meeting with the Iranians, which should take place at the beginning of next week," French Foreign Ministry's spokesman Jean- Baptiste Mattei said at a news conference, adding "for the time being, neither the date nor the place have been confirmed".

To the question about the place where the meeting would be held, Mattei answered that there was no "competition" between Brussels and Paris and "some contacts were ongoing" on the subject.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Monday that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer would meet in a European capital with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani.

Kharazi described the meeting as possibly the "last round of negotiations" with the EU.

Source: Xinhua