Iran wants sanctions eased, hints on enrichment

TEHRAN: Iran has called on the West to look to lifting its sanctions if it wants to quickly resolve the showdown over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities, a prospect swiftly ruled out by Washington.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi outlined his country's message in an interview with the news agency ISNA on Monday, following milestone talks at the weekend in Istanbul between Iran and world powers.

Those talks, described by both sides as an encouraging revival of a process that had been moribund for 15 months, are now due to be developed in another, more substantive round on May 23 in Baghdad.

"If the West wants to build trust, it should begin with sanctions, because it can help speed up the talks reaching a solution," Salehi was quoted as saying.

"If goodwill (from the West) is present... we are ready to rapidly and easily, and even in the Baghdad meeting, resolve all issues" regarding Iran's nuclear programme, he said.

The foreign minister appeared to suggest that the level of enrichment could be up for discussion.

However US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a trip to Brazil Monday, insisted that the "burden of action" is with Iran to prove it is serious in nuclear talks, dismissing Tehran's appeals for world powers to ease sanctions first. (AFP)