Iran envoy says fair nuclear talks will win breakthrough

By Sylvia Westall and Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - An Iranian envoy on Wednesday held out the prospect of a breakthrough in any talks about Tehran's nuclear work and other security issues if governments negotiate on an "equal footing" and without preconditions.

Underscoring a U.S. turnabout from a policy of isolating Iran, Washington and five other big powers said on Tuesday they wanted direct talks with Iran to ease a deadlock over its refusal to halt nuclear work and open up to U.N. inspectors.

"(It) is Iran that is inviting others to come without preconditions," Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Agency, told reporters outside a meeting of the U.N. nuclear monitor's 35-nation board of governors.

"We do not consider anybody, any of the parties as a super power... If this mentality is changed and they understand that they are on equal footing and come in a civilised manner... then there will be a breakthrough," Soltanieh said.

"We are ready for negotiations without any preconditions, talking about comprehensive issues, about all global issues, regional issues, regional security, economic cooperation."

But he warned that Western nations behind sanctions on Iran would have to respect its "inalienable right" to a peaceful nuclear programme if negotiations were to be fruitful.

Iran says it is refining uranium only for a civilian nuclear programme to generate electricity. But its record of nuclear secrecy and limits on IAEA non-proliferation inspections have stirred Western suspicions of an illicit quest for atom bombs.

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