‘US keen to hold direct talks with Iran’

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the US has a keen interest in holding direct negotiations with Iran as Washington views the Islamic Republic the key Middle Eastern power.

According to Press TV, Chairman of Iran Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi on Monday said “The Americans insisted on holding direct talks with Iran before recent presidential election in the country, and they are still interested in doing so because they know the Islamic Republic of Iran has the final say in the region.”
The lawmaker said Washington has witnessed the Islamic Republic’s clout in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, therefore it is interested in talks with Tehran.
Boroujerdi noted that if suitable conditions were ready to meet Iran’s national interests, Tehran might consider negotiations with the US.
Since the severance of Iran-US ties in 1979, the two countries have held three rounds of direct talks over Iraq’s security upon Washington’s request.
On December 1, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed Washington’s readiness to hold bilateral talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
Analysts believe that the US has blocked the possibility of holding logical negotiations with Iran by imposing illegal and inhumane sanctions against the Islamic Republic.