Salehi, who was previously head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told reporters in Geneva that Iran had always indicated a willingness to press on with talks with the "P5+1" - the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany.

Referring to his meeting in Geneva with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, he said: "I hope that the meeting today will facilitate the work for the upcoming meeting with 5+1."

Iran held talks on its nuclear program in January in Istanbul with the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain, but they ended without progress. Global powers have proposed a fuel swap as a step toward ending the standoff.

Michael Mann, a spokesman for Ashton, said the Geneva meeting was her first with Salehi, who took over as foreign minister on January 30, a week after the Istanbul talks.

"The High Representative used it as an opportunity to repeat her disappointment at the lack of movement by the Iranian side at the Istanbul talks and to urge the Iranians to engage seriously to move the talks forward," Mann said.

The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Tehran for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment program, which Western powers suspect is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon. Iran says its program is for peaceful energy needs.

Salehi, who will address a United Nations disarmament body on Tuesday, also said safety was more important than a quick start-up date for Iran's US$1 billion Bushehr reactor plant.