U.S. rejects Annan's call for direct talks with Iran

Peoples Daily Online:

The United States rejected on Friday UN chief Kofi Annan's call for direct talks over nuclear issues with Iran, accusing Tehran of having "refused to engage in a constructive and serious manner." READ MORE

Expressing support for European and Russian efforts to negotiate an end to Iran's suspected nuclear program, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "We believe that we are following the right diplomatic process now."

"We have been in support of the EU-3, we have been in support of the Russian government in their direct negotiations with the Iranian government," McCormack said.

Annan urged the United States to join with the EU-3, namely Britain, France and Germany, to resume talks with Iran. "Everyone, every important stakeholder should be at a table," Annan told reporters in the margins of an EU-Latin America summit.

"I urge all parties to be open, Iran included, and come back to the table and find a solution." Annan said, noting the proposed the EU-3 talks with Iran, would be more productive if they included the United States.

Washington has been refusing to have direct talks with Iran, insisting there are many ways for communication between the United States and Iran.

"Our view at this point is that there are plenty of channels of communication if the Iranians want to pass information to us or we want to pass information to them," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a news briefing on Thursday.

The spokesman also said that problems that Iran has right now is not just between the United States and Iran.