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A defiant Iran said Friday its uranium enrichment drive was not up for debate, as Western sources described talks between the Islamic republic and world powers in Istanbul as "inconclusive."
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili met in the Turkish city with representatives from the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany, led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
The gathering, scheduled to continue Saturday, was the second round of talks between Iran and the powers after negotiations resumed last month in Geneva, breaking a 14-month hiatus in diplomatic efforts to dispel concerns that Tehran is developing an atomic bomb.
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"We will absolutely not allow the talks to go into the issue of our basic rights like the issue of suspending enrichment," Abolfazl Zohrevand, an aide to Jalili, said in the yard of an Istanbul mosque where the Iranians went for Friday prayers.
He insisted however the talks were held in a "positive" climate.