Iran's president media consultant Mehdi Kalhor said here Saturday that Iran has two conditions for talks with the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"If the United States does not move out of the middle east and the U.S. government does not give up its support for the Zionist regime, we do not think the talks between Iran and the United States would be advisable," Kalhor said.
"Today, it is the United States that needs to have relations with Iran," Kalhor told IRNA, adding that "We believe that our religion accepts repentance."
He also pointed out that the relations with the United States and the nuclear issue, which are beyond the president's responsibility, require the Iranian Supreme Leader's and Iranian people's opinion.
While U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to confirm or deny these two conditions but said that Washington was eager to allow more Iranians to visit the States.
Earlier at a news briefing Tuesday, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey also reiterated that despite its differences with the Iranian government, the United States was looking for ways to reach out to Iran's citizens.
The two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1979 when the Islamic revolution took place in Iran.
Several media reported in June that the United States was considering setting an interest institution in Tehran to process Iranian visa applications and to serve as an American cultural center after almost 30 years of severed ties between the two countries.
Currently, the Swiss embassy in Tehran houses a U.S. special interest section to communicate messages from Washington to Iran and to handle the affairs of U.S. citizens inside the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in July in New York that Tehran will consider the plan if the United States presents the proposal officially.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said in July that he was ready to talk with U.S. President George W. Bush directly.
Source: Xinhua
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