Iran's top nuclear negotiator will meet European Union foreign ministers early next week in an attempt to rescue talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

The announcement in Tehran that Hassan Rowhani will hold talks with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany followed days of frantic efforts to save the 19-month-old negotiations after Iran said it would resume converting raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride. This is the initial stage of a uranium enrichment process that Iran has suspended since 2003.