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Iran should hold talks with the U.S. - former president

Iran Materials 3 April 2012 14:19 (UTC +04:00)
Iran should hold talks with the U.S., Expediency Council Chairman, ex president of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said at the meeting with heads of the International Studies Journal.
Iran should hold talks with the U.S. - former president

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 3 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/

Iran should hold talks with the U.S., Expediency Council Chairman, ex president of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said at the meeting with heads of the International Studies Journal, Sharq newspaper reported.

"The U.S. is a world power, same as Russia, China, Europe. If we can negotiate with Europe, China, Russia, so why cannot we establish direct dialogue with the U.S.?," Rafsanjani said.

The meeting was discussing plans for the upcoming decade, and Rafsanjani referred to Islam, while talking about the Iran-U.S. relations.

"I have nothing to do with other ideologies. I believe in Islam, and so do many others. Islam does not prevent us from holding talks with representatives of other ideologies," Rafsanjani noted.

Iran's former president also brought up memories of his letter that he sent to Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini.

"I sent Khomeini a letter back then, with seven issues written there. I wrote to him, that until he is the Supreme Leader of the nation, he needs to solve these issues, otherwise they will create problems for the country in the future," Rafsanjani noted.

He added that one of the seven issues in his letter was the dialogue between Iran and the U.S.

"The dialogue does not mean that we will act as puppets before the U.S.," Rafsanjani underscored. "If they can accept our position, and we can accept theirs, then the dialogue could be successful".

Sharq newspaper cited Rafsanjani that while he says has not bee in on all the latest details of the Iran-U.S. relations, he believes the talks are "far from dead end".

Today, there are no formal diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States. Relations between the two nations began in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and after an era of close alliance between Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's regime and the American government, the relations between Islamic Republic and the United States have gone downhill after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

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