US offer of direct talks with Iran, a hoax: Lawmaker

An Iranian lawmaker says the US green light for direct negotiations with Iran is an attempt to deceive the world’s public opinion.

According to Press TV, Seyyed Sharif Hosseini, a member of Iran Majlis Presiding Board, said on Monday: “The US behavior and action in the region is…aimed at diverting the public opinion. Therefore the US green light for talks with Iran must not be taken seriously.”
On February 22, US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said the US was willing “to meet bilaterally with the Iranian side,” repeating an offer Vice President Joe Biden had made earlier at the 49th annual Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 2.
Only four days after Biden’s offer of talks, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions to prevent Iran from gaining access to earnings garnered from its crude exports.
Hosseini pointed to the positive results of Iran’s comprehensive talks with the G5+1 (permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in late February, noting, “What happened in talks with the G5+1 cannot be considered a prelude to talks between Iran and the US, because the behavior and literature used by the US has proved that the White House officials’ words do not match their deeds.”