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Iran has again strongly defended its controversial nuclear programme ahead of a new round of talks with world powers in Kazakhstan, BBC reported. 

Chief negotiator Saeed Jalili said the global community must accept Tehran's right to enrich uranium.

International powers suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons - a charge Tehran denies.

Iran insists its purposes are purely civilian, asserting it needs enriched uranium to make medical isotopes.

"We think our talks... can go forward with one word. That is the acceptance of the rights of Iran, particularly the right to enrichment," Mr Jalili said in the city of Almaty - the venue of the talks with Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany (P5+1).

"We are talking about peaceful nuclear energy," he stressed, accusing "a handful of countries" of trying "to deny this right to others".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Madrid on Thursday he hoped for "very meaningful progress" from the negotiations, urging the Iranians to prove their programme was for peaceful purposes.