( dpa ) - Tehran on Monday predicted that the meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in Berlin over Iran's nuclear programme would come to nothing.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said the six states due to meet for talks Tuesday are just taking advantage of the Iranian nuclear programme as a pretext to put pressure on Iran despite official reports confirming the peaceful nature of all its projects.
The spokesman was referring to last November's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran's nuclear projects and the recent agreement between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog to clear up outstanding questions on Iran's uranium enrichment programme by mid-February.
He also referred to last month's US intelligence report which verified Iran had halted its atomic weapons programme in 2003 and seemed less determined to develop nuclear arms than the administration of President George W Bush previously believed.
While stressing continuing and accelerating cooperation with the IAEA within an "action plan" regardless of political moves by the West, Hosseini said the participants in the Berlin meeting should stick to IAEA reports rather than further complicate the issue.
The Islamic state insists it is enriching uranium for civilian energy needs and denies it wants to develop nuclear weapons.