A top Iranian security official said on Saturday that prospects of nuclear talks between Iran and the European Union (EU) were not negative since both sides sought to resolve the issue through diplomatic means.

"Iran has not put any preconditions for talks and therefore holds an optimistic view on the resumption of negotiations," Hossein Entezami, newly-appointed spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying.

Entezami said that Tehran had welcomed the continuation of nuclear negotiations but talks should be "based on a certain framework and must follow a certain objective," warning that although Iran was optimistic about the process of nuclear talks, it will "be obliged to activate other nuclear sites if it sees no progress."

He defended Iran's resumption of uranium conversion activities as just a "symbolic act," saying the activities were "not technically part of the nuclear fuel cycle."

Entezami complained that major powers had prevented the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from playing an efficient role in Iran's nuclear issue.

Nuclear talks between Iran and the European Union (EU) have been stalled since Tehran, defiant of warnings of the EU, in early August resumed uranium conversion activities, a preparatory step of the highly sensitive uranium enrichment.

As a result, the IAEA adopted a EU-drafted resolution in late

Sept., urging Tehran to fully suspend its enrichment-related activities or face a referral of its case to the UN Security Council.

Iran and the EU have recently expressed willingness to resume talks but stuck to their stances at the same time.

The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of civilian program, a charge denied by Tehran.

Source: Xinhua