TEHRAN, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - Iran is ready for talks on its controversial nuclear program without the need for any preliminary conditions, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said Wednesday.
"We have repeatedly stated that we are ready for talks to solve the nuclear problem, but without any preliminary conditions," Hamid Reza Asefi said. "[Diplomatic] talks are the only solution to the problem."
On Wednesday senior foreign ministry officials from Russia, the United States, China and the EU3 negotiators - the United Kingdom, Germany and France - gathered in London to discuss the Iran's nuclear programs, which some countries have claimed are designed to build a nuclear bomb, though Tehran has consistently denied this.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Tuesday Russia's position that the long-standing impasse over the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear research program should be resolved by diplomatic means, and said he hoped Iran would cooperate constructively and openly with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
