Russiaโs representative in international talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, Sergei Ryabkov, met Tehranโs top negotiator on a surprise visit on Wednesday, news agencies reported.
Ryabkov, who is also deputy foreign minister, met Saeed Jalili, who said Tehran โhopes for a swift return of the P5+1 countries to the negotiating table,โ the official news agency IRNA reported.
The recognition of Iranโs right to enrich uranium โcannot be a precondition for talks but will be one of the topics of discussion,โ Ryabkov said, according to ISNA, another Iranian agency.
Ryabkovโs visit came three days after he was quoted as telling Britainโs Financial Times newspaper that Moscow would support direct talks between Iran and the United States on Tehranโs disputed nuclear programme.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi responded Monday by saying any โdecision on comprehensive, bilateral political talks between the two countriesโฆ is up to the supreme leader,โ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
US President Barack Obama, whose re-election Iran welcomed with caution, said on Wednesday there was still a โwindow of timeโ to end the standoff and promised further diplomatic efforts.
โWith respect to Iran, I very much want to see a diplomatic resolution to the problem,โ Obama told a White House press conference.
โI will try to make a push in the coming months to see if we can open up a dialogue between Iran and not just us, but the international community, to see if we can get this thing resolved.โ
Salehi, meanwhile, expressed hope that negotiations on its nuclear programme with the so-called P5+1 โ the UN Security Councilโs five permanent members plus Germany โ would resume soon.
The P5+1 has for years sought through negotiations with Iran to defuse an international crisis over Tehranโs atomic ambitions, which the West believes has military aims despite repeated denials by the Islamic republic.
The last high-level talks, which all but failed, were held in Moscow in June.
According to Salehi, Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the world powers in the talks, are to hold a telephone conversation โto decide on a venue and dateโ.
The UN atomic watchdog has said it will hold a new round of talks in Tehran on December 13.
The Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions on the Islamic regime, which coupled with unilateral Western restrictions on its oil sector and banks, have begun to cause major problems for its economy.
