U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that the Group of Eight (G8) leaders are hopeful of the upcoming talks in Baghdad on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Speaking at Camp David in Maryland, the venue for the two-day G8 summit, Obama, flanked by other G8 leaders, said that they agreed that Iran had the right for a peaceful nuclear program, but the weaponization of nuclear power was of "grave concern to all of us."

"All of us are firmly committed to continuing with the approach of sanctions and pressure in combination with diplomatic discussions," Obama said, adding: "We are unified on our approach to Iran."

"Our hope is that we can resolve this issue in a peaceful fashion that respects Iran's sovereignty and its rights in the international community, but also recognizes its responsibilities," he said.

However, given the rather brief statement by Obama, it is still hard to tell what tangible or new progress has been achieved by the G8 leaders on the nuclear standoff, which was an important part of their dinner discussion on Friday night.

The Kremlin said Thursday that Russia will work to exclude Syria and Iran from the declaration of the G8 summit. Analysts believed that such a statement, plus the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has virtually closed the door for progress on the issue.

The last round of nuclear talks between Iran and the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany, concluded in Turkey's Istanbul in April, with all sides describing the talks as positive and agreeing to meet again in the Iraqi capital on May 23.

The G8 summit formally kicked off on Friday evening at Camp David with wide-ranging topics, including the eurozone debt crisis, Iran, Syria, global energy and food security.

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