REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BRUSSELS - European Union governments pledged on Monday to suspend some sanctions against Iran as soon as the UN nuclear watchdog verifies that Tehran has curbed its atomic work under last month's landmark agreement. In a statement, EU foreign ministers said Iran had to implement its side of the deal in good faith.

"For its part, the Council is committed to ... suspend those EU sanctions as set out in the (agreement) immediately after the IAEA has verified the implementation of the nuclear-related measures by Iran," they said.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi travelled to Brussels on Monday to meet EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who oversees contacts with Iran for the six nations, to discuss implementation of the nuclear deal.

Ashton said the meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, was requested by Iran, and she hoped discussions would resume quickly between teams of experts from both sides on how and when to roll out last month's deal.

"I gather that he is coming with some messages for me from Foreign Minister (Mohammad Javad) Zarif," she told reporters.

"I am expecting us to move forward to agree on the implementation timetable as soon as possible. The ambition we have is to have a date agreed that is achievable."

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that these discussions could take time.

No date has been set for the last month's deal between six world powers and Iran to take effect. Talks on implementing it ran into trouble last week when the United States blacklisted additional Iranian companies and people.

Under the accord, Iran is supposed to suspend its most sensitive nuclear work while governments in the United States and Europe ease some economic restrictions, in a first step towards a comprehensive settlement of the decade-old dispute.

The sequence of lifting sanctions and Iran's nuclear steps has been an issue in discussions between Iran and the six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN body, is expected to verify that Iran has taken the agreed steps.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Iran over suspicions that it is covertly seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

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