The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Germany and European Union will prepare talks with Baghdad to offer confidence building measures, including possible suspension of an insurance ban on tankers carrying Iranian oil, to allow oil exports to Asian customers.

Washington and Brussels are wary of the sanctions from London, the center of the shipping insurance market, which could lead to a damaging spike in oil prices.

Iranian exports account for 2.2 million barrels per day to China, India, Japan and South Korea. The concession is part of negotiations to extract from Iran an assurance that it will not produce highly enriched uranium used in building nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists that its nuclear programme is peaceful. Western diplomats says they will still assess the scope of possible concessions from Iran before deciding on a final response. The international community would assist Iran in boosting its nuclear safety.