Iran: Rumors about Tehran-Washington Talks Aim to Influence US Elections

"The news about Iran-US talks, all of them raised by US sources, are mostly for domestic use for the US presidential elections," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

"They think they can influence the results of the elections through releasing such news," the Iranian spokesman said, adding the US officials' claims about change in their attitude "should be evaluated according to their actions" and not based on empty words.

In one of the strangest articles on the relations between the US and Iran, the New York Times reported on October 20 that Washington and Tehran had reached an agreement to hold one-on-one negotiations.

The sources that provided the story, according to the newspaper, were "Obama administration officials." They added that Iran only insisted that the proposed negotiations be held after the US elections.

Later Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi dismissed the report stressing that there would be no talks between the two countries.

"We do not have anything called negotiations with the US," Salehi said.

Also, the French daily Le Monde had reported earlier that Iranian and American diplomats have been meeting for talks in recent years, predominantly in Switzerland. The report added that Robert Enron, a US official who had offered an exchange of enriched uranium with Iran, has had several meetings with Supreme Leader's Top Advisor for International Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati.

In an interview with the Mashregh website, Velayati strongly rejected the claim, saying, "As far as I am aware of the government's decisions, there are no direct talks with America."

Velayati told Mashregh, "Our logic vis-à-vis the United States is clear: They say our nuclear activities are not peaceful but we will not cave in to their demands because even if we temporarily forgo our right (to uranium enrichment), they will find another excuse."
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