By IANS
Tehran : Iran's top nuclear negotiator has termed talks with the European Union over the ongoing dispute with Western nations over Tehran's nuclear programme as having become "more rational".
Ali Larijani said that his talks last week with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana showed that "the general atmosphere prevailing over Iran's nuclear case has become more rational," official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday.
He added both sides needed to take "precise steps" to move towards "a more logical direction" and prevent adoption of a third United Nations Security Council resolution.
Larijani said a political understanding could be reached if Iran's nuclear case were returned from the UN to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).In that case, he added, Iran would again accept more IAEA supervision to resolve the dispute.
The dispute over Iran's controversial nuclear projects is mainly due to Iran's rejection to suspend its uranium enrichment programme before resuming negotiations with the five UN veto powers plus Germany.
Iran says its nuclear programmes, including the enrichment process, were for civil purposes only and fully in line with the its right as signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The US and other western countries however believe that Iran is conducting a nuclear enrichment programme with the aim of making a bomb.
The G8 grouping of the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia have threatened tougher sanctions if Iran fails to meet UN demands to halt enrichment.
Iran is expected to be one of the issues on the agenda of the G8 summit that began Wednesday in the north German Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm.