Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed Russia's latest proposals for restarting talks on the Islamic republic's controversial atomic program that were broken off in January, AFP reported.
"Iran welcomes Russia's step-by-step proposal and is ready to make suggestions to cooperate," he said in a meeting with Russia's visiting National Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, quoted on the presidency website.
"In the step-by-step proposal, we will take your and that of the supreme leader's views into consideration since they are important and we consider them vital to reaching a positive solution," Patrushev was quoted as saying.
Iran's all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on the country's major political decisions, especially on foreign policy and the nuclear issue.
After two sessions with Patrushev, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili also said earlier on Tuesday that Tehran welcomed Russia's proposal to renew talks.
He was refering to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's "step-by-step" plan unveiled in mid-July.
Under the proposal, Iran would address questions about its nuclear activities and the major powers would start reducing international economic sanctions against Tehran.
