Iran welcomed on Friday a proposal to restart talks with six major powers on its nuclear programme next month and called for a date to be agreed for the first such meeting in a year. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton suggested Vienna on Thursday as the venue for three-day talks involving the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Britain and China. "As you are fully aware, recently I announced that October or November from our point of view is a good time to restart talks between Iran and the 5+1 (major powers)," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Brussels. "It is good news that authorities here are following the matter. This is the way to coordinate some specific, fixed date for starting talks," he said before international talks on the economic development of Pakistan and fighting terrorism. The United States and its European allies fear Iran's civilian nuclear energy programme is a cover to develop the capability for producing nuclear weapons.