Iran said on Sunday that it hoped to reach a consensus over its nuclear issue after a planned meeting between its top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"The situation would be more clear after the meeting and we hope to reach a consensus," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told a press briefing.

Solana is expected to hold talks with Larijani this week to clarify ambiguities on Iran's nuclear response to an offer of incentives package by the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

Asefi said the exact date and place of the meeting is not yet clear but it will be "within the next few days".

The package, agreed on by the six nations, includes both incentives aimed at persuading Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and possible sanctions if Iran does not comply.

Larijani delivered Teheran's written response to the incentives package on Aug. 22 and urged the six nations to get back to negotiations, saying Iran was ready to start "serious talks" over its nuclear program.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July urging Tehran to suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, or face prospect of sanctions.

On Thursday, the IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei presented a report to the Security Council, saying "Iran has continued enriching uranium despite a UN nuclear deadline for it to suspend or face possible sanctions."

Asefi said on Friday that IAEA's report was another indication of Tehran's broad cooperation with the agency and showed the urgency to return to talks.

But U.S. President George W. Bush declared Thursday that "there must be consequences" for Iran for refusing to stop enriching uranium.

John Bolton, Washington's ambassador to the UN, chose to be more specific, saying the Security Council must now draw up sanctions against Iran.

The European Union, however, agreed on Saturday to give Iran extra time, probably two weeks, to clarify ambiguities on its

nuclear response to the six-nation package.

Source: Xinhua