“I remain always cautiously optimistic but I'm also very clear that it's very important to get a response,” Ashton said at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara on Wednesday.
“I look forward to what I hope will be a successful meeting in Almaty and I really do hope that Iran will now... consider the proposal we put on the table and respond to it,” she added.
Davutoglu said Turkey was “ready to contribute to a solution” to the Western standoff over Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov has stressed that an "unconditional recognition" of Iran’s right to its civilian nuclear energy program is the only solution to the West’s standoff over Iran's peaceful nuclear activities.
Russia believes a long-term settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue should be based on the recognition of Iran's "unconditional right to develop its civilian nuclear program," Morgulov said on Wednesday.
Officials from the P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany) are due to hold two-day talks with the Iranian negotiators in Kazakhstan on April 5-6.
Iran and the P5+1 have held several rounds of talks with a focus on the Iranian nuclear energy program. The last round of the negotiations between the two was held in Almaty on February 26-27.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted toward non-civilian aspects.