Ahmadinejad calls on P5+1 to scrap sanctions

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday talks with world powers could be "fruitful" if sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program were scrapped.

Six world powers and Iran started a second day of talks in Geneva, with little sign of any substantial progress in the row over Iranian nuclear activities the West suspects are aimed at making atom bombs.

Ahmadinejad called on world powers to publicly declare Iran's national "rights," saying they would have "nothing but remorse" if they failed to do so.

Iran says it has a sovereign right to continue enriching uranium, something the U.N. Security Council has called on it to suspend amid suspicions its pursuit of peaceful nuclear power may be a cover for developing atomic weapons.

"By putting aside all of the wrong decisions, and the inappropriate manners that you have, by scrapping all those (sanctions) resolutions that have had no effect on the Iranian people, by putting aside and cancelling all those restrictions you have created...If you start the talks with these (actions), the talks will definitely be fruitful," Ahmadinejad said in the speech which was dubbed into English on state-TV channel Press TV.

"Without respecting the rights of the Iranian people and without an official announcement, an acknowledgement of the rights of the Iranian nation, and without honesty, then the response of the Iranian people will be the same response that you have received up to date and that is a response that will bring you nothing but remorse," he said.

Addressing a crowd in the city of Arak in central Iran, Ahmadinejad said: "this is the invitation of the Iranian people to you, a divine invitation in fact."

"You should know that if you did not respond positively to this invitation then your response will be worse than that of pharaohs and the tyrants of history.

(Reporting by Robin Pomeroy)