"Iran welcomes the return to negotiations," Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said in Tehran in response to a proposal by the EU foreign affairs chief for a new round of talks.

The European Union's Ashton, who represents world powers in the nuclear dialogue with Iran, on Thursday had proposed November talks in Vienna.

"We have always said that dialogue on cooperation with the Islamic republic of Iran is the only option," Jalili told state television.

In Brussels, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dubbed Ashton's offer "good news" as he stepped into a Pakistan aid meeting she was chairing.

Dialogue between Iran and the group of 5+1 nations which Ashton represents -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- has been stalled since October 1, 2009, when the two groups met in Geneva.

Faced by deadlock, the United Nations Security Council on June 9 reinforced international economic sanctions, with the United States and EU taking separate measures -- all of which Tehran brushed off as having no impact.

"Iran's capabilities and privileged position on the international and regional fronts cannot be denied and show that any other option (than dialogue) is a mistake and will not produce results," Jalili said.

The major powers have "experienced this over the past 30 years and could have avoided the same experience over the past year," said the negotiator, referring to the UN sanctions slapped on Tehran.

Sanctions notably ban investments in oil, gas and petrochemicals while also targeting banks, insurance, financial transactions and shipping.

Japanese oil developer Inpex Corp was the latest to withdraw, Friday pulling out of Iran's Azadegan oil field project apparently to keep off a list of firms subject to US sanctions.

While Iran is the world's fourth oil producer and holds around 10 percent of world reserves, it has been highly dependent on petrol imports because of its limited refining capacity.

It anounced last month however that it had become self-sufficient and exported its first shipment of domestically made petrol.

The nuclear negotiations aim to address international suspicion that Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.

Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign policy, suggested the talks take place over three days in the middle of November.

The EU diplomacy chief, who this week came under fire from Tehran for being inactive in efforts to resume the talks, made the offer "following recent positive indications from Iran" that Jalili was willing to meet, her office said Thursday.

Mottaki last weekend indicated that Tehran considered late October or early November an appropriate time for a resumption but later this week Tehran blamed Ashton for the deadlock.

"Basically, it seems that the volume of Ms. Ashton's activity is lower," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters Tuesday.

"If she is really eager for negotiations, she should be more active," he insisted, adding that her predecessor Javier Solana was "more active".

But Ashton this week won US backing in her role as global negotiator.

"With the potential for negotiations beginning because of Iran's reaching out to Cathy, Cathy will be leading the international community in those negotiations," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a joint interview with Ashton for the BBC.

"Of course it will be me that will, on behalf of this group of countries, lead the negotiations," Ashton said.

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