Envoy Deplores US Hostile Policy on Iran

Tehran’s Ambassador to Italy Seyed Mohammad Hosseini lashed out at Washington for its hostile policies towards Iran, and stated that US President Barack Obama has adopted a harsher policy against Tehran than his predecessor George W. Bush.

Speaking in Rome on Friday, Hosseini pointed to the US recent offer of talks with Iran, and noted, “Obama’s proposal to hold talks with Iran is inconsistent with the facts, and the hostile actions of the Obama administration have also exceeded those of the Bush administration.”

Washington must prove its good faith in practice and stop its anti-Iran moves if it wants to enter into direct talks Tehran, the Iranian diplomat noted.

Hosseini further stated that over the past few years, the United States has taken a number of anti-Iran measures, including about 27 executive orders and directives and congressional acts.

Iranian officials on many occasions said that Tehran will never accept talks with Washington under pressure.

Earlier this month, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei dismissed the US offer of direct talks with Iran, saying that the proposal has been made in word, while Washington’s actions show a different course, meaning that the offer is nothing but a cunning move.

Addressing a gathering of Iranian Air Force commanders and personnel here in Tehran, the Leader rejected the US statesmen’s remarks that the ball is now in Iran’s court, and said, “The ball is in your court because you should answer and say if speaking of negotiations concurrent with pressures and threats basically bears any meaning.”

“Negotiation is meant to prove the goodwill. But you make tens of (hostile) actions with ill intention and then speak of negotiations in words. Can the Iranian nation believe that you are driven by goodwill,” the Leader continued.

He further stated that the US needs talks with Iran because Washington’s Middle-East policy has proved as a failure and Americans need to show a winning ace to repair their damaged reputation.

The Iranian Supreme Leader’s remarks came after US Vice-President Joe Biden, speaking at this year’s Munich Security Conference, reiterated previous indications that the US was prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran.

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.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.