The European Union's executive body Wednesday said it was "very surprised" by the behavior of Iran, which seems to be querying practicalities to delay the resumption of talks on its nuclear program.

"We proposed concrete dates and a venue in December" for a meeting of the negotiating parties, a spokesman for the EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Catherine Ashton said. "Ever since then, we have been very surprised to see Iran come back to us again and again with new pre-conditions on the modalities of the talks, for example by changing the venue and delaying their responses," he explained.

The U.S. and some European countries accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has long denied. Iran was in talks last year with the P5+1 group, comprised of the five permanent members of U.N. Security Council: China , France, Russian the U.K. , and the U.S. , and chaired by Baroness Ashton.

The countries "are still hoping to reach agreement with Iran on the modalities of the talks, including venue, with a view to resuming talks shortly," the spokesman said.

Διαβάστε ακόμα