World powers gave no ground to Iran at negotiations in Almaty last month and only recognized some of Tehran 's rights, the Islamic republic's supreme leader said Thursday.

"At the [Feb. 26-27] meeting, the Westerners did nothing of importance that could be termed a gesture," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on his website. "All they did was recognize a part of the rights of Iran " to develop nuclear energy.

He said the next meeting, due to take place on April 5-6 in the Kazakh city, would "help gauge the sincerity" of world powers.

Iran held talks with the five United Nations Security Council permanent members--the U.S. , China , Russia , the U.K. and France--plus Germany on its controversial nuclear program.

The meeting saw the group offer Iran a softening of non-oil or financial sector-related sanctions in exchange for concessions over the country's uranium enrichment operations.

"Some of the points raised in their [the world powers'] response were more realistic, compared with what they said in the past," chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili said at the time.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later added that "negotiations are better than confrontation," while Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said "things are taking a turning point."

Western powers suspect Iran 's nuclear program to be a cover for building an atomic weapons capability, a charge which Iran denies.
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