On Iran - US talks

Iran's Ambassador to Sweden Hassan Qashqavi said that Iran-US talks in an atmosphere based on mutual respect will be constructive.

Iran's President Ahmadi-Nejad had written a letter to US President George W. Bush suggesting new ways of solving the two countries' differences, to be based on respect and logic.

US officials described the letter as a "philosophical discourse" on "Tehran's view of the world and of US policy," adding it did not mention the nuclear nonproliferation issue" and "The letter does not present an opening for what we are discussing." After insisting that a resolution would be put to a vote this week, their efforts failed, and Russia and China indicated opposition. US officials said hoped that in the next couple of weeks an agreement for a resolution against Iran can be achieved.

In an article issued today in the Swedish daily Svenska Dagblat, he wrote, "In its turn, Iran has taken the initiative to establish a direct contact with the US by sending President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to his American counterpart, George W. Bush."

"Given the Middle East developments, the US administration should learn that it cannot manage to impose its policies on others through unilateral and hegemonic approach," he wrote. In his article, written in response to the article of the US charge d'affaires to Stockholm Casey Christensen, Qashqavi said Iran is prepared to give objective guarantees on the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities.

The Iranian diplomat noted that final verification of the peaceful nature of a nuclear program requires a long time, adding that so far only 21 of the 190 member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have managed to receive such a verification from the UN watchdog.

"The US anxiety over Iran's peaceful nuclear program is just a pretext to advance its political conspiracies and impose a nuclear apartheid upon Iran," he added.