According to Reuters,  Iran is optimistic about progress in talks with world powers over its nuclear programme but it will never give up its right to the peaceful use of atomic energy. Iran said it was seeking an end to Western sanctions over its arms program during talks with world powers and criticized France for helping Israel, the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have atomic weapons,  Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mahdi Akhondzadehhe said in a speech to a nuclear non-proliferation conference in Vienna.

Tehran reopened negotiations with six world powers over its uranium enrichment programme last month and they have agreed to meet again in Baghdad on May 23.

"We continue to be optimistic about upcoming negotiations," he stated.

Furthermore Chicago Tribune noted  separately in Tehran, an adviser to Iran's supreme authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel  said the Baghdad talks should lead to the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian media.

The comments reflect increasing emphasis in the Islamic state that an end to sanctions is vital to the talk's success.

It was also the first time an influential political figure explicitly said he expects progress on the issue in Baghdad.

"At the least, our expectation is the lifting of sanctions," he underlined.

Fars News Agency reported, Haddad Adel also asked the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) to show a logical behavior during the upcoming talks in Baghdad "since Iran will never surrender to pressures."

Also earlier, chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi had raised the same demand, reiterating that removal of the US and EU oil sanctions against the Islamic Republic should be on the agenda in talks between Tehran and the G5+1 in Baghdad.

"Given the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran's stand is more powerful, the Saturday (April 14) negotiations were held under a good atmosphere and it was decided that annulling oil and banking sanctions against Iran will be discussed in the future negotiations," Boroujerdi told FNA in April.