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US deceptive designs of talks with IranUS State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland has reiterated Washington’s offer to hold direct talks with Tehran.

“We have said from the beginning of this, in 2009, that we would be open if the Iranians wanted to, in the context of being together for the P5+1 (permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), to meet bilaterally with the Iranian side,” Nuland said at a Friday news briefing, adding, “We will renew the offer this time.”

On February 7, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said, “Negotiation is meaningful when the two sides talk with goodwill, under equal conditions and without seeking to deceive each other. Therefore, ‘negotiation for the sake of negotiation’, ‘tactical negotiation’ and negotiation offer in order to sell a superpower’s gesture to the world is a deceptive move.”

The next round of comprehensive talks between Iran and the P5+1 is scheduled to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26.

“We continue to believe that with seriousness, there is a diplomatic solution to be had here,” Nuland stated.

Political analysts contend that the US claim of readiness to hold direct talks with Iran is utterly preposterous as America’s deep-rooted policy of anti-Iran pressures contradict the very tenets of reciprocal interaction.

At the 49th annual Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 2, US Vice President Joe Biden said Washington was ready to hold direct talks with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program.

Only four days later, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting Iranian oil revenue. The sanctions are meant to prevent Iran from gaining access to earnings garnered from its crude exports.

ASH/HSN/MA