Tehran: Iran's president on Sunday endorsed the resumption of talks with the international community about his country's nuclear program.
The talks foundered a year ago and months later, a fourth round of UN sanctions was imposed on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to resume the talks and added that the West had made the first step.
"They have come and said, 'We will negotiate,"' Ahmadinejad told a crowd of supporters in the northwestern city of Ardebil, northwest of Tehran. "We say, 'All right, we will negotiate with you."'
He gave no timeframe for the talks.
EU's foreign affairs and security chief, Catherine Ashton, suggested last Thursday the talks be held in Vienna "over three days in mid-November," with the participation of the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.
Ashton issued the statement soon after meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Brussels.
At the rally in Ardebil, Ahmadinejad warned the West the talks with Iran would not make progress unless the West clarifies its stance over Israel's alleged nuclear arsenal.
If this doesn't happen, the West will show it "supports the Zionist regime's atomic bomb and is not seeking to have a friendship (with Iran) through the talks," Ahmadinejad added.
