TEHRAN, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) — Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi Tuesday said Iran intends to continue nuclear talks with the West in a "constructive" atmosphere, the Press TV satellite channel reported.

    Both Iran and the West are interested in continuing their negotiations, Qashqavi told a press conference in Tehran.

    He said Iran’s concerns over the transparency of the West’s package should be addressed and hammered out during the meetings with the West.

    Qashqavi said Iran insists on its nuclear rights, and the mutual concerns and questions of both sides should be taken into consideration.

    On Monday, Jalili and Solana agreed in a telephone conversation to continue nuclear talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

    Their talks came after six major countries recently agreed to consider new sanctions against Iran in the wake of remarks by Western governments saying Iran failed to give a "clear positive response" to their latest offer of incentives.

    Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed later on Monday that Tehran will never give up its nuclear program despite the risk of fresh sanctions.

    The EU issued a decree Friday to consider fresh UN Security Council sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

    The EU presidency decreed that its financial institutions must exercise restraint on export credits to Iran and that its 27 member states inspect Iran-bound cargoes.

    On June 14, Solana handed the offer of incentives to the Iranian authorities on behalf of France, Britain, Russia, China, the United States and Germany during his visit to Tehran in a bid to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

    Expectations had been high that the talks would produce a power-sharing deal after they had stretched into the early hours of Monday, with the principals saying there were just a few sticking issues that needed to be ironed out, according to the state media New Ziana.

    "Not exactly," he said in response to a question on whether the talks were progressing well. "We will meet tomorrow," he said, adding sticking issues would be overcome. "They will be overcome," he said.

    Zimbabwe held presidential and parliamentary elections on March29, in which presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai received a leading number of votes but failed to win outright. His Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party won a majority seats in the lower house of the parliament.

    Tsvangirai boycotted the June 27 presidential run-off, citing political violence as the major reason. The result is Mugabe, the sole candidate in the race, won an overwhelming victory and was sworn in for a new presidential term immediately after the election result was announced on June 29. However, Tsvangirai refused to acknowledge Mugabe’s victory.

    The two sides agreed to seek solution to the country’s political stalemate and economic crisis through dialogue under South African President Thabo Mbeki’s mediation.

    They first held talks in South Africa for about two weeks and later moved the talks back to Harare.

    Mbeki arrived in Harare on Saturday and convened the talks the following morning with most people expecting that they were a mere formality.

    However, after 14 hours of marathon talks, they could not reach a deal.

    The talks re-convened Monday afternoon, as President Mugabe had earlier gone to officiate at the Heroes’ Day commemorations, which breakaway MDC formation leader Arthur Mutambara also attended.

    Speculation is rife that issues sticking in the deal are largely to do with sharing of critical cabinet posts, including that of defense, foreign affairs and information as well as the roles that Mugabe and Tsvangirai would assume in the government of national unity.

    It is understood that Tsvangirai is pressing for an executive post in which he would control cabinet with Mugabe as ceremonial head.

    Mistrust and wide differences in philosophy are also believed to be preventing the rival parties from reaching agreement, with Mugabe accusing the opposition of protecting the interests of foreign powers that sponsor it so that it could reverse the land reform program. 

    SINGAPORE, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) — The prime ministers of Singapore and Australia Tuesday signed an agreement to further strengthen bilateral defense ties.

    During the signing ceremony and in their meeting, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is in Singapore for a one-day visit, and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong characterized the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Defense Cooperation as a natural progression in the expansion of bilateral defense ties.

    They expressed their shared conviction that the MOU will enhance the defense relationship between Australia and Singapore, said a joint statement.

    The broad pact aims to expand military cooperation between the two countries, and will promote the sharing of resources and the development of military expertise.

    "Both countries will also cooperate through exercises and operations, in areas such as humanitarian and disaster relief, search and rescue and peace support," said an individual statement by Singapore’s Defense Ministry.

    The pact also advocates cooperation in defense technology research and calls for annual meetings to be held between officials from the Australian Department of Defense and the Singapore Ministry of Defense.

    The agreement "demonstrates the importance both countries place on bilateral military interactions and the political support from both countries for the various training arrangements between their armed forces," Singapore’s Defense Ministry said.

    Singapore and Australia have been partners in the Five Power Defense Arrangements since 1971, and Singapore’s Armed Forces trains regularly in facilities in Australia.