Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is prepared to take steps to resolve its nuclear dispute with the West in return for reciprocal steps from the international community.

Mr. Ahmadinejad commented Thursday in response to a recent Russian proposal for a step-by-step approach for bringing Iran back to nuclear negotiations with six world powers.

Under the proposal presented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week, Iran would address the U.N. nuclear agency's concerns about the Iranian nuclear program and be rewarded with a gradual easing of sanctions.

Iranian state media quote Mr. Ahmadinejad as saying Iran already has taken a step by cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the international community should now reciprocate.

The U.N. nuclear agency has said Iran has not been cooperating with its investigation of Western allegations of a military dimension to Iranian nuclear activities for years. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

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Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – plus Germany,

in Geneva in December and in Istanbul in January, have so far failed to make progress.