Iran agrees to nuclear talks

TEHRAN, April 9 (UPI) -- Iran says it has agreed to nuclear talks in Turkey and Iraq.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the first round of talks with representatives from the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany regarding the disputed Iranian nuclear program will be Saturday in Istanbul and the second round will be in Baghdad.

The decision on where to meet was made after intense negotiations with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, IRNA reported.

The date of the second round of talks will be determined at the end of the Istanbul meeting, EU officials told the Fars News Agency.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a speech Sunday, said the West is impeding Iran's scientific progress and unfairly singling out the country for its nuclear program.

"At the present time, many of the countries that seek to impeding the Islamic Republic of Iran's progress have nuclear bombs themselves," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by IRNA.

"Many countries in the region possess nuclear bombs ... but they are not being mentioned and no one is worried about them."