TEHRAN, May 1 (Reuters) – Iran will not negotiate with the United States until it stops its "evil approach", the government’s spokesman was quoted as saying on Tuesday, two days before the two arch-foes were due to attend a meeting on Iraq.
U.S. officials say Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is ready to talk with Iran on the sidelines of the May 3-4 conference in Egypt but only if such contact is deemed useful.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is due to take part in the meeting of Iraq’s neighbours to discuss ways to end the violence there, as are officials from the Group of Eight of leading industrialised nations and the European Union.
Washington accuses the Islamic state of destabilising Iraq, a charge Iran denies, and the two countries are also at odds over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham suggested Washington wanted to talk to Tehran because of its problems in Iraq and a realisation Iran was a growing regional power.
"The Americans know that they are faced with Iran as a real, capable power because Iran has entered the field of the nuclear technology and has the will to move forward," he was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
"That is why they are after negotiating with Iran somehow," Elham said. "Naturally until the Americans stop their arrogant, one-sided and evil approach we won’t negotiate with them."
Washington has not had formal diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980, when it cut ties after the Iranian Islamic revolution and the holding of U.S. hostages.
The United States has made clear it will only engage in broader talks with Iran when and if Tehran halts its most sensitive nuclear work — uranium enrichment, which can be used to fuel power stations or make atomic weapons.
Iran says it is developing nuclear technology for power generation, but the West fears it is trying to build a bomb and U.N. sanctions have already been imposed on Tehran.
But the U.S. State Department has said Rice is open to direct talks with Iran over Iraq. Iraq’s foreign minister said on Sunday there was a "high possibility" Iran and the United States would hold bilateral talks at the Egypt meeting.
Elham said Iran would be ready to negotiate with the United States if it changes its behaviour and is no longer a "terrorist and evil government" but made clear his view that Washington was more keen for such talks than Tehran was.
"About negotiations, it is miss Rice who really would like to have a friendly chat with Mr Mottaki," he said.
