Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that he hopes a new round of nuclear talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany will be held in the near future, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Preparatory work has been done to go ahead with nuclear talks and consultations are underway to take next steps. I hope negotiations with the G5+1 will be held in the near future," Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying.

On Wednesday, Salehi also told the semi-official Fars news agency that Iran is ready to resume negotiations with the G5+1 and announced that Tehran will soon send a letter to the six world powers to announce its readiness for talks.

"Mr. (Saeed) Jalili as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator had earlier announced his readiness to hold talks with the G5+1 and he will announce this once again," Salehi said, adding: "We hope that the meeting will be held not in a far future."

Nuclear talks between Iran and the G5+1 in Istanbul in January 2011 failed to reach any agreement as Tehran rejected any notion of suspending enrichment in exchange for trade and technology benefits, as called for by several UN Security Council resolutions passed since 2006.

On Sunday, a high-ranking delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headed by its chief IAEA inspector Herman Nackaerts arrived in Tehran for a three-day negotiation on the country's controversial nuclear program, amid rising tensions between Iran and Western countries over a string of incidents.

Talking about the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran, Salehi said the team of experts from the IAEA did not inspect Iranian nuclear sites although Iran were prepared to make arrangements for that.

Iranian official media termed the three-day talks between Iran and the IAEA team as "positive and constructive".

The IAEA said Wednesday that another meeting between the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran over its nuclear program will take place in Tehran from February 21 to 22.