The European Union foreign policy chief says talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, the 5+1 group could advance “very soon.” Catherine Ashton, who leads the group, composed of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany, in negotiations with the Islamic Republic, said in Luxemburg on Monday ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers "I hope we will be able to make progress very soon." The two sides have held several rounds of talks over the Iranian nuclear energy program. Last time, Ashton and the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili met in Istanbul on September 18. Previous talks had been held in Moscow in June. However, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, also in Luxemburg for the ministerial meeting, said, "We will intensify the pressure and we will continue to do so over the coming months….” At the beginning of 2012, the US and the EU imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.