Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that the Islamic state was ready to resume talks with major powers over its nuclear work, but had conditions, state television reported.
The UN Security Council passed last week a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for defying the Council's repeated demands to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment activities, which the West fears is a cover to build bombs.
Iran says it needs nuclear technology to generate power.
"We are ready to resume talks with them (major powers) ... but we have conditions that will be announced soon," said Mr Ahmadinejad in a televised speech.
Moving beyond the UN sanctions, the European Union will push ahead with plans for tighter sanctions against Iran on Thursday, including measures to stem investment in the energy sector, a draft obtained by Reuters showed.
European Union foreign ministers, who are responsible for agreeing a bloc-wide position ahead of an EU summit on Thursday, signed off on a statement on Monday that goes substantially beyond the UN sanctions.
Mr Ahmadinejad said sanctions would not stop Iran's nuclear activities. "We will not withdraw from our nuclear path even one iota because of sanctions," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
Reuters