As high-ranking officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived on Sunday, Iran seemed optimistic and well-prepared for cooperation, but remained adamant on its threat to cut oil exports to the EU.

Chief IAEA inspector Herman Nackaerts and his team arrived in Tehran for a three-day visit to Iranian nuclear facilities "to solve the outstanding, substantial issues, and the emphasis is on the issues with possible military dimension," IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told Xinhua earlier.

"We are looking forward to the start of a dialogue, a dialogue that is overdue since very long," Nackaerts said at Vienna airport Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on the sidelines of the ongoing 18th African Union summit held in Addis Ababa that Iran is ready to answer any concerns raised by the IAEA.

Salehi said that Western powers should resort to negotiations instead of tightening sanctions on Iran.

"My advice to them is try engagement rather than sanctions and see how Iran responds. We are promoters of engagement and we are for engagement," he said.

He said there are indications that negotiations are being preferred against tightening sanctions.

Meanwhile, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Sunday that his country will soon stop oil exports to certain EU members.

"According to the Oil Ministry's future plans, we will cut our exports to certain countries" in response to the EU's recent oil embargo against Iran, Qasemi told some reporters.

Last Monday, the EU imposed further sanctions against Iran's oil exports as well as its central bank in a bid to ramp up pressure over Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Major EU importers of Iran's oil, such as Greece, Italy and Spain, have to find alternative oil suppliers beforel July 1, when the embargo comes into force.

"Less than 20 percent of Iran's oil exports are destined for Europe" and the EU sanctions will take a heavy toll on the European people, Qasemi was quoted as saying, adding that the embargo would not create a problem for Iran's oil exports even if sales to Europe were halted.

Moreover, Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted deputy oil minister as saying that oil prices could reach 150 U.S. dollars per barrel as a result of the EU's ban on importing oil from the oil-rich country.

Ahmad Qalebani said "Although a precise prediction cannot be made on the oil prices, it seems we will witness 120 to 150 U.S. dollars in oil prices per barrel for the future."

As to recent discussions about halting oil exports to the EU, Iran's Majlis (parliament) Energy Commission said Sunday that the legislature has not received any such bill.

The commission's spokesman Emad Hosseini said "what exists is an idea put forward by some lawmakers, which they will pursue when a result is achieved."

On Friday, Hossein Ebrahimi, deputy head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said the Iranian lawmakers will discuss a bill that calls for a ban on oil exports to the EU as early as next week.

The lawmaker called the EU's new oil embargo against Iran a "psychological war" and wondered whether it could be implemented.