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| Sunday, 11 January 2004 |
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Iran's FM says no plans for negotiations with US TEHRAN, Saturday (AFP) Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said Saturday the Islamic republic had no plans to start negotiations with the United States, asserting that Washington would first have show some basic respect for Tehran's clerical leadership. "There is no plan to commence negotiations," Kharazi said during a press conference with his visiting Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul. "The two parties must first arrive at the conclusion that the conditions for such negotiation are there and, as we have said on numerous occasions, what is important is mutual respect and the principle of equality and a climate of serenity ... for negotiations to take place." Kharazi added that Iran needed "the assurance that if there are negotiations, it is in a climate of equality and mutual respect." His comments come after an episode of what observers have dubbed Washington's "earthquake diplomacy", during which the US sent planeloads of aid and relief workers to victims of an earthquake in the southeastern city of Bam that left over 30,000 people dead. Washington offered to follow-up by sending a high-ranking delegation including figures close to US President George W. Bush, an offer refused by Iran which complained it was receiving mixed signals from the US. Bush, who has lumped Iran into his "axis of evil", has since asserted he was not trying to send any political signals to Iran and has continued to press concerns over the country's nuclear programme, rights record and alleged harbouring of fugitive al-Qaeda members. The two arch-enemies broke relations after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. |
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