European and Iranian envoys have announced plans for more talks on the deadlock over Iran's nuclear program.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday that the new round of talks with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, will take place Thursday and in the coming weeks.
Their meeting today in Ankara, Turkey, marked the first face-to-face talks between the two since the United Nations approved a second set of sanctions against Iran in March, after Tehran refused to stop uranium enrichment.
Ahead of the talks, Larijani said he hoped to hear new ideas from Solana. But Solana said the talks were aimed at creating conditions for meaningful negotiations.
The meeting came amid widespread speculation that the United States and its partners dealing with the issue could agree to a compromise deal, allowing Iran to maintain some of its nuclear reprocessing work.
But in Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, dismissed those reports, saying "suspension means suspension." He said Iran ending its uranium enrichment program is the condition in which the international community is prepared to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program.
The United States and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
Some information for these report provided by AP and AFP.
