Iran's Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani stressed here Monday that Iran needs to know the topics of talks with the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Larijani made the remarks after "several letters have been received from the members of the U.S. Congress, and the last one says that 'We think it is the time to start the talks.'"
"The letter is being studied, but we have not responded it yet," he said, adding that "The reason is we need to know what the topics of talks with them would be about."
Recently, some U.S. nongovernmental groups have shown willingness for talks with Iran.
Hossein Sobhaninia, deputy head of Majlis' National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, urged on Saturday for clarifying the Americans' willingness to talk with Tehran.
Sobhaninia said the intention of the groups calling for dialogue and also the information they seek to gain as well as their political affiliation should be clarified before any talks.
The lawmaker, however, held that "the move (of the American groups) is not negative in nature," adding that "talks with nongovernmental groups can be positive if they are aimed at clarifying ambiguities."
The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980 after a group of Iranian students seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran and capture some 60 American diplomats in 1979, with 52 of them being in captivity for 444 days in the hostage crisis.
The tension escalated as the United States and its allies have been accusing Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, which Iran denies and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Source:Xinhua
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