Iran Plays Down Chance of Direct Talks With U.S

Global Security Newswire Staff

Iran on Wednesday reportedly played down the possibility of Tehran communicating directly with U.S. officials at a U.N. forum later this month, dismissing a possibility floated by U.S. government insiders.

"No meeting has been planned between the Iranian and U.S. officials" attending the U.N. General Assembly, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in comments reported by Iran's state-run Fars News Agency. In a Los Angeles Times report published late on Wednesday, the U.S. sources said they might confer on the meeting's sidelines with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Zarif said that any interactions with Washington should take place during larger meetings also involving China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, Fars News reported. Iranian negotiators and counterparts from the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany have failed over years of talks to resolve international fears that atomic-arms ambitions are secretly driving Tehran's purportedly peaceful nuclear program.

Press affiliates of the Iranian leadership have quoted a written communication by President Obama raising the possibility of turning "a new [diplomatic] page," according to the Times. In the statement to Rouhani received late last month, Obama reportedly encouraged Iran to fall into line with terms set by the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany,.

Tehran has sent a response, Fars News and another Iranian news group said. Their reports did not elaborate.

The Obama administration is ready to collaborate with Tehran "to reach a diplomatic solution that will fully address the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program," Washington's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

"The United States has reaffirmed its readiness to work with the new Iranian government under President Rouhani to reach a diplomatic solution" to the nuclear standoff, Ambassador Joseph Macmanus added in a statement prepared for delivery to the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors. "We are mindful of this unique moment, and urge Iran to take the steps necessary to allay international concerns."

Iran separately intends to work jointly with the Vienna, Austria-based organization to "overcome existing issues once and for all," Reuters quoted Ambassador Reza Najafi as saying on Thursday.