The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Iran should continue talks with world powers to end a long-running nuclear dispute.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Iran should continue talks with world powers to end a long-running nuclear dispute, but without ceding any of the gains made by its nuclear program.

"Iran's negotiators should not yield to issues forced upon them", Ayatollah Khamenei stated in a meeting with nuclear scientists in Tehran marking the National Nuclear Technology Day, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"These negotiations should continue ... but all should know that negotiations will not stop or slow down any of Iran's activities in nuclear research and development," his eminence stressed, adding that Washington knew well that the Islamic Republic was not seeking a nuclear weapon.

Iran had agreed to negotiate an end to the dispute "to break the hostile climate created by the arrogant powers against Iran", he went on to say.

Khamenei spoke as negotiators from Iran and the so-called P5+1 (U.S. Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) met for the second of two days of talks in Vienna aimed at clearing the way for a long-term accord on curbing Tehran's nuclear program.