Department spokesman Ian Kelly also said the five UN Security Council permanent members -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- plus Germany would push for more transparency from Iran at next month's meeting.

"We are united in this common goal of getting... the Iranians to introduce more transparency into their nuclear program," Kelly said at the daily news briefing.

The United States and its partners are calling on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, which the West fears masks a plan to build an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies the charge, saying its program is for peaceful nuclear energy.

"We have an opportunity here to present a united front... to show that the international community wants them to abandon... any plans they have for a militarization of their nuclear program," Kelly said.

The talks will involve the political directors of the foreign ministries of the six powers, including the State Department's William Burns.

The seven-way meeting is the first since July last year, when then-president George W. Bush sent Burns to a similar but inconclusive meeting with Iran in Geneva.

Burns's presence amounted to a symbolic break with past policy by the Bush administration, which had refused to engage in talks with Iran as long as it continued its uranium enrichment.

In Vienna, US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu told reporters on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency's general conference that the October talks with Iran are "an important first step and one hopes for the best."

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana spoke by telephone with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and they agreed that talks would be held on October 1 between Iran and representatives of the six powers.

US and European officials said a venue for the talks has not yet been decided but a State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity that the talks would take place somewhere in Europe.

The six powers had called for urgent talks with Iran after it handed new proposals to their representatives in Tehran last Wednesday.

Washington had expressed disappointment with the package, saying it was "not really responsive to our greatest concern," which is the nuclear issue, but Moscow said it offered "something to dig into."

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in Vienna that Tehran was ready to field questions about its atomic program, but will not horse trade on its fundamental rights to nuclear energy.

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