Nuclear talks a step forward, says upbeat Iranian president

Tehran: Iran's president described talks with world powers on the country's disputed nuclear programme as a step forward, the official IRNA news agency said on Sunday.

At Saturday's meeting in Geneva, the six major powers gave Iran two weeks to answer calls to rein in its nuclear activities or face tougher sanctions after talks ended in stalemate despite unprecedented US participation.

Prospects of ending the row looked dim as Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili insisted Tehran would not even discuss a demand to freeze sensitive atomic work the West fears is aimed at making bombs at the next meeting.

But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an upbeat assessment. "Any negotiation that takes place is a step forward," he told reporters, according to IRNA.

"Yesterday's negotiation is regarded as one of these forward-moving negotiations," Ahmadinejad said.

However, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that although the latest talks in Geneva were "constructive", Iran had still not given a final response.

Iran has been given a two-week deadline to give a final answer to world powers on an incentives offer they hope would encourage Iran to stop its nuclear work.