Iran on Thursday ruled out the possibility of holding direct talks with the United States to help stabilize Iraqi situation, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Iran is skeptical about good faith in the United States' overture to hold direct talks with Iran because it is not compatible with Washington's hostile behavior toward Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

Asefi suggested that the US administration should revise its behavior and attitude toward Iran before it makes any proposal on direct talks of any kind.

Asefi's comments came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly said on Wednesday that Washington was considering direct talks with Iran on multilateral arrangement on Iraq.

Relations between Iran and the United States have been cut off since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism while Tehran terms the United States as enemy of Islam.

The US has also accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's internal affairs with its influence on the Shiite Muslims in Iraq since the downfall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Iran rejected the charges.

Source: Xinhua