The meeting came after European powers last week triggered a deadline for sanctions to come back into force on Iran for failing to comply with commitments under a moribund 2015 deal.

That move set off a 30-day countdown that the United Nations called a "window of opportunity" to hammer out a diplomatic solution.

"Kallas met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Doha on Thursday to discuss efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue," an EU official said on condition of anonymity.

"The talks focused on a range of topics, including access for International Atomic Energy Agency monitors to Iranian nuclear sites and the status of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium."

European powers Britain, France and Germany have said they are ready to drop the new sanctions push if Iran addresses concerns on its nuclear program.

The 2015 deal negotiated under former US president Barack Obama offered Iran sanctions relief in return for drastically scaling back its nuclear work.

President Donald Trump effectively killed the deal during his first term when he pulled out the United States and imposed sweeping US sanctions, including on countries that bought Iranian oil.

Western countries accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons -- something Tehran denies, defending its right to what it insists is a civilian nuclear program.