EU says Iran complicating preparations for nuclear talks

(Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday Iran was delaying preparations for a new round of nuclear talks with six world powers, but she is still hoping that negotiations can begin soon.

EU officials have been in contact with Iranian negotiators since December to try to agree a date and venue for new talks, which the powers hope will lead to Iran scaling back its atomic work. No plans have yet been set.

"We proposed concrete dates and venue in December," said a spokesman for Catherine Ashton, who oversees contacts with Iran on behalf of United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

"Since then, we have been very surprised to see Iran come back to us again and again with new pre-conditions on the modalities of the talks, for example by changing the venue and delaying their responses," he said.

Iran rejects international accusations that its nuclear work has military goals.