STRASBOURG, France — After an exchange of letters with Iran, Catherine Ashton, the European Union's new high representative for foreign policy, said Wednesday that negotiation was the only possible solution to the problem of Iran's nuclear program, and she expressed confidence that new talks with Iran could begin in the fall.
She received a "quite long" response from the chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, on Wednesday morning after her request for new talks on the nuclear issue, but said she had not analyzed it fully.

She said she had yet to discuss it with the United States or other key European officials and could not say if Iran conveyed any new proposals to address the standoff after the United Nations passed a new round of sanctions on the country last month.