"The enemies of Iran's government like the US are opposed to the core principles of the (Islamic) Revolution and they never give up their hostile policies," member of the parliament's Industries and Mines Commission Hamid Reza Fouladgar told on Sunday.
"While the enemies pursue such inimical policies, negotiations with them are meaningless and useless," he added.
The United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States' espionage center at its embassy in Tehran. The two countries have had tense relations ever since, but have shown willingness to attend talks to help resolve regional issues, including security in Iraq. Yet, the two countries have avoided talks on bilateral issues for the last thirty years.
A few weeks before the US presidential elections in October, the New York Times reported 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.
Iran categorically denied media reports about Iranian and US officials' direct talks, and stressed that such claims are aimed at influencing the results of the US presidential elections.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also 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."
irna/281
