Sunday, October 21, 2012

‘We Have No Discussions with the U.S.’ - Iran FM


Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a news conference in Tehran on Sunday that Iran has no one-on-one negotiations or discussions with the U.S.

“We don't have any discussions or negotiations with America,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday told a news conference in Tehran. “The (nuclear) talks are ongoing with the P5+1 group of nations. Other than that, we have no discussions with the United States.” (IRNA/Reuters, 21 October)

Salehi was responding to a New York Times report that Iran and the United States had agreed to bilateral talks after secret exchanges between U.S. and Iranian officials. The Iranians, the Times said, wanted the negotiations to begin after the 6 November U.S. presidential election.

Salehi did not say, however, that Iran will not have one-on-one talks with the U.S. Just saying that Iran and the U.S. have no such discussions now.

A U.S. national security council spokesman was forced to say after the report by the Times was published that the one-on-one talks with Iran have not been finalized, but he left the door open for such discussions in future by saying that the U.S. has always been open to bilateral talks with Iran. 

File photo: occupycorporatism.com

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Iran's foreign policy towards the United States has been based on "hate", not mutual interests, and so after 33 years of "death to America" it's hard for Iran to even admit that they are in contact with Americans.

Anonymous said...

Iran public utterances don't always reflect the reality of its policies. Iran and the US worked together against the Aghan Taliban.