Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters at the United Nations on September 24 such talks would be along the same lines of the meetings last October. The countries include Germany, and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia.

He has said an Iranian representative would meet with the group. He said that if European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton contacts his representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency, a date can be set.

"We are prepared to have talks on a swap (a fuel swap deal) at anytime and with the P5 plus one. We hope by October we will be prepared" to meet.

He also said Iran is ready to meet with the United States for talks about Afghanistan, the war-torn country that borders Iran. U.S. and other forces have been battling the Taliban there for years.

"If they show conditions are ripe and are ready to hear the reality of Afghanistan, we are ready to sit with them on Afghanistan," he said.

A short-lived fuel swap deal was agreed to in October at the last round of talks in Geneva. Under the deal, Iran would be provided with fuel for its research medical reactor in exchange for sending most of its enriched uranium out of the country.

After initially accepting the deal, Iran backed out. During talks in May with Turkey and Brazil, Iran signaled it was willing to reconsider under modified terms.