BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers approved plans Monday for implementing United Nations sanctions against Iran, a move that is meant to punish Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

The plan follows agreement by the UN Security Council in December to impose sanctions targeting people and programs linked to Iran's nuclear program, which the EU, the U.S. and Israel fear is being used to make nuclear weapons.

The EU has solved a technical snag involving Spain and Britain that had threatened to hold up implementation of UN sanctions on Iran, EU President Germany said on Monday.

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"Both states concerned presented a solution and this morning this was received without any further discussion," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

The snag centered on Spain's refusal to accept an EU text listing Gibraltar as among "competent authorities" to apply the sanctions, reflecting the centuries-old dispute between Britain and Spain on Gibraltar.

Steinmeier said EU states would look at an Iranian offer to resume talks on its disputed nuclear program.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana gave a cautious response Monday to the Iranian offer.

"I continue to be realistic, Solana said as he arrived for talks with EU foreign ministers. I think Iran knows what it has to do," he told reporters.

Solana and Steinmeier held talks Sunday with Iran's top national security official Ali Larijani - the first talks since negotiations collapsed last year over Tehran's refusal to suspend enrichment, a potential pathway to developing nuclear arms.

At a security conference in Munich, Larijani said Iran was ready to restart negotiations but said it would not suspend its nuclear program as a precondition for talks.

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog on Sunday welcomed Iran's willingness to resume negotiations with the West on its uranium enrichment plans, but said nothing short of full transparency on Iran's part will bring the two sides to the negotiating table.

The monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers was to review the 27-bloc's implementation of UN sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. Solana was also due to meet Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN's nuclear agency.

Arriving in Belgium late Sunday, ElBaradei said he hoped to meet soon with Larijani.

"I am still hopeful that they will move forward to try and find a way to get into negotiation. He mentioned that they are ready to work with the agency, and I think that is positive," ElBaradei told Associated Press Television News.

The whole problem started with the outstanding issues about the nature of the program so I welcome any move by Iran to try to work with the agency ... I still hope that they will try through dialogue to create the conditions to go back into negotiations," he added.