The EU's top diplomat and Said Jalili, a close ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was recently named chief nuclear negotiator, spoke by telephone on Sunday but were unable to reach an agreement.

But Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Javad Vaidi, deputy head of the Supreme National Security Council, as saying: "The two sides agreed during a phone call on a meeting at the end of November."

Solana must report on the Islamic republic's willingness to negotiate over its nuclear programme to the UN Security Council at the end of November. An EU official said Solana wanted any meeting with Jalili to take place earlier.

His report, and another by the head of the UN atomic energy agency, will be crucial to deciding whether new sanctions are slapped on Iran, which the West fears is trying to covertly develop a nuclear weapon.

Solana has been trying since June last year, in the name of major world powers, to convince Iran to resume talks on suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for a package of political and economic incentives.

Despite UN sanctions against it, the Islamic republic has refused to suspend enrichment, which is needed to fuel a nuclear reactor but could at highly refined levels be used to build a bomb.