GENEVA - Iran-EU nuclear talks are making progress, a senior Iranian official said Wednesday, adding that the Islamic Republic still refuses to give up on uranium enirchment.
"There is a chance we might be inching forward towards a potential agreement," Iranian delegation chief Cyrus Nasseri told AFP.
His comments came after two days of talks in Geneva and a warning from Tehran that the negotiations could collapse in the face of European Union demands that the Islamic Republic abandon nuclear fuel work in order to guarantee it will not make atomic weapons.
Iran expects the Europeans to accept its proposal to allow uranium enrichment, despite Western demands that it cease all such nuclear fuel work, Tehran's top nuclear official Hassan Rowhani said in an interview published in London's Financial Times Wednesday.
"The Europeans should tell us whether these ideas can work as the basis for continued negotiations or not," Rowhani said.
"If yes fine. If not, then the negotiations cannot continue," he said.
Nasseri said: "The mere fact that we are continuing (to talk) should be an indication that there seems to be hope."
04/20/2005 16:18 GMT