An Iranian senior official has said that resumption of talks on Iran's nuclear issue would help forge better understanding between the country and the European Union (EU), the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made the comments on Wednesday in a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, on the sidelines of the 61st United Nations General Assembly which is being held in New York.

"Continuation of consultations will help forge a better understanding of all issues and remove misunderstandings between Iran and the EU," said Mottaki.

Negotiation between Iran and the EU has been steadily pushed despite the fact that Iran failed to meet a UN Security Council resolution calling on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment by Aug. 31.

A new round of nuclear talks between Iranian top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will be held in one of the European capital cities next week, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

In addition, Mottaki, who was accompanying with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the UN General Assembly, also discussed Israel-Hezbollah conflict with Tuomioja.

Mottaki lashed out at "UN Security Council's delay in approving (UN Security Council) Resolution 1701", saying that if the resolution had been passed earlier, the battle would have ended sooner and the material damage and casualties would have been lesser.

Tuomioja, for his part, "agreed with Mottaki that the (UN) Security Council unjustifiably delayed approval of the resolution", and he also praised Iran's support for the resolution, said the report.

The 34-day-long Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended on Aug. 14 under the UN-brokered resolution which called for Israel's withdrawal and authorized an expansion of UN peacekeeping troops to 15,000 to help Lebanese forces take control of south Lebanon.

Source: Xinhua