VIENNA. March 1 (Interfax) - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran could improve relations with the United States despite rifts over Iran's nuclear program, Salehi said in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung.
Asked whether U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election could help improve relations between the two countries, Salehi said, "Bilateral relations are being formed right now. I think both countries want to use this opportunity."
Iran's talks with the Sextet of international mediators (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in Astana marked a milestone on the way towards settlement, he said.
"The ice is melting," he also said.
The Iranian diplomat refrained from disclosing further details on the talks, but said that Tehran has been intensifying efforts to reduce the amount of uranium enriched to 20%.
A regular round of the Sextet's talks with Iran on Iran's nuclear program ended in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
The delegations agreed to hold the next full-format round on April 5 and 6, to be preceded by a meeting of experts in Istanbul on March 17 and 18.