Speaking to an Afghan daily on the sidelines of an international conference in Herat, Hossein Sheikholeslam, who is an adviser to Iran's Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani on international affairs, rejected any other form of direct negotiation with the US.
He stressed that during the Herat conference only the question of future withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan was raised, and that Tehran is prepared to hold talks with Washington in this regard similar to negotiations the two countries had before US troops pulled out of Iraq.
“During the Herat conference, we did not give any signal of willingness for talks with the US [in other fields],” he added.
On Saturday, the New York Times, quoting unnamed US administration officials, claimed that Iran and the United States have reached an agreement to hold direct talks over Iran’s nuclear energy program after the US presidential election in November.
Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, denied on Sunday that any direct talks had been scheduled between Iran and the US.
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