Iran terms US proposal for talks on Iraq as media gesture

A top Iranian security official on Saturday termed as media gesture a recent proposal by the United States to discuss with Iran on the Iraqi situation, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"It was promotional and media gesture. No precise proposal (in this regard) has been offered to Iran," Ali Larijani, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.

On Nov. 28, US State Department said that its ambassador to Iraq has been authorized to meet with Iranian officials to discuss ways to improve the security situation in Iraq.

In response to the proposal, Larijani said that "we cannot express view about an issue on which no precise proposal has been presented."

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi has also said that direct talks with the United States are not on the agenda of the Islamic Republic.

Diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States have broken off since a group of Iranian students seized the US embassy in Tehran and held staff members hostage for 444 days in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution.

Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly and sponsors terrorism. In return, Iran terms the Unite States as enemy of Islam and state terrorism.

Source: Xinhua