Iran and the European Union on Saturday agreed to continue talks aimed at ending an impasse over Tehran's nuclear programme, according to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Larijani and Solana, after a meeting in Lisbon Saturday, agreed to hold further talks in three weeks time. Larijani had earlier in the day voiced optimism ahead of the meeting. "Our sincere will is to gain good results in the talks and we hope that this will also be the case," IRNA quoted Larijani as saying. The Iran-EU talks were necessary to "keep the lines of communication open," said Cristina Gallach, a spokeswoman for Solana in Lisbon. "Our intention is to continue exploring the possibility of initiating formal negotiations." Larijani, in Vienna on Friday, said a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei was successful and said the two sides reached a "relatively good framework" for settling the issue. On his part, ElBaradei said he hoped that in the next few weeks the relevant sides would be able to draw a plan of action to be implemented within two months.
