LUXEMBOURG (IRNA) -- European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana denied Tuesday that the 25-member bloc has cut off talks with Iran on the nuclear issue and said the door was open for negotiations.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of EU foreign ministers this afternoon, Solana said, "I don't want to use that terminology," when asked by a reporter if talks with Iran had broken down.

Solana said he spoke to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on the phone.

"The door is open to negotiations," he said.

In reply to IRNA on the decision taken by the EU foreign ministers on Iran today, Solana replied 'nothing new'.

"I think there is always hope, and I would like it to be possible to start again, but it is up to Iran now to accept the conditions to start real negotiations," Solana said as carried by Reuters.

On his part, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the current EU Presidency, said the ministers did not discuss the issue of sanction on Iran.

EU backs limited nuclear sanctions against Iran

According to Reuters, the EU backed limited United Nations sanctions against Iran's nuclear program on Tuesday after Tehran spurned conditions for opening negotiations.

The EU's 25 foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, called for incremental measures that officials said would be targeted first at individuals and materials involved in Iranian uranium enrichment activities.

As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Iran has rejected a demand to suspend its purely peaceful rightful enrichment activities.

"The Iranians' refusal leaves us no choice today but to take to the Security Council route. The Security Council should adopt gradual, reversible measures proportionate to Iranian actions," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called it the "first step in sanctions" but stressed the EU's offer of cooperation remained on the table if Iran was willing to meet the conditions. In New York, French UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere told Reuters three European powers -- France, Britain and Germany -- planned to put forward a draft UN Security Council resolution "during the course of this week. We are aiming for Wednesday or Thursday."

"The most important thing is to have a united response as we showed with North Korea," European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.

Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Alberto Navarro said sanctions would be gradual because Europe, unlike the United States, needed Iran as an oil supplier.

Door open

Mark Fitzpatrick of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said the approach with Tehran would be gentler than with Pyongyang.

"A sanctions resolution on Iran will not be swift or biting as it has been with North Korea," he said, noting that while Pyongyang openly affirmed its nuclear weapons intentions, Tehran insisted its program was peaceful. There was no conclusive proof it sought an atom bomb, he said.

In a statement, the ministers expressed deep concern that Iran had not yet suspended enrichment activities and said the EU has no choice but to support consultations in the United Nations on measures on the basis of resolution 1696, which told Iran to suspend enrichment by Aug. 31 or face sanctions.

Russia and China have so far been reticent about any sanctions, but a European diplomat said they had accepted the principle of an incremental approach raising pressure.