Rafsanjani: U.S. duplicity on Iran raises doubts

Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has said that the differing approaches of the U.S. administration and the Congress toward Iran raise doubts and do not send a good signal to the Iranian people.
The former pragmatic president made the remarks in Tehran on Sunday during a meeting with former EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who had travelled to Iran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president, Hassan Rohani, on the same day.

“Relations start with negotiations, and the differing approaches of the U.S. administration and Congress raise doubts and do not send a good signal to the Iranian people,” Ayatollah Rafsanjani said, referring to the fact that the U.S. administration has adopted a softer line towards Iran after the election of Rohani, while some in Congress have been calling for tougher sanctions against the country.

“Sanctions and threats have always cast a shadow over negotiations, and we should move toward the resolution of old grievances in an atmosphere of calm and peace,” he stated.

“We should not allow the prevailing atmosphere in Iran’s (relations) with certain countries in the past eight years cast a shadow over the continuation of activities because a new era in foreign policy and interaction with the world based on respect and mutual trust has begun.”

Solana, for his part, expressed hope that relations between Iran and the West would improv