BRUSSELS (AFP) - Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Monday spoke by phone on the standoff over Tehran's nuclear programme, officials from both sides said. "The conversation took place and Solana will report on it to the representatives of the group of six," powers involved in the talks - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - a Solana spokesman told AFP in Brussels. The spokesman for Solana, who is negotiating on behalf of the six world powers, gave no details on the conversation or how long the two men talked. Iranian state-run television reported that in the telephone conversation, "both sides agreed to continue talks." "They also emphasised that preserving this path (talks) needs positive and constructive atmosphere," the television report said without elaborating. The United States had demanded that Iran meet a deadline of last weekend to respond to an international package of incentives aimed at persuading Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment amid warnings of new sanctions. But an EU diplomat said on Friday: "If it's in 16 days instead of 14 it's not a problem. We are not obsessed with a date." In Tehran earlier, new foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters the talks would take place, saying; "Negotiations are an ongoing process and the question of deadline is media speculation." At the last meeting between Jalili and Solana on July 19 in Geneva, Solana asked for a response in two weeks to the package drawn up by the permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany. Solana presented an offer of economic and trade incentives in mid-June, while Iran has put forward its own proposal, an all-embracing package of suggestions to resolve the problems of the world, including the nuclear issue.