WASHINGTON: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday his government was open to diplomatic discussions with the United States on the subject of Afghanistan and the Taliban.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” programme, Mr Ahmadinejad also agreed to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme with the US and other western powers.
“I think that discussions are always good, provided they are done respectfully and based on mutual trust,” Mr Ahmadinejad told the interviewer, Christiane Amanpour. “If the US administration truly wishes to alter its policies in Afghanistan, and in Iraq, and to move in a direction that serves the interest of the people of those two countries, we are always open to cooperation, as we are now.”
Ms Amanpour later said that she had heard directly from President Barack Obama that he would be open to having diplomatic discussions with Iran about Afghanistan, but the Iranian leader had yet to address the offer until now.
The Iranian president is scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly in New York this week.
Mr Ahmadinejad appeared equally keen to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme with the “P5 Plus One”, a negotiating forum comprising the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.
“I think we will have a plan to discuss things,” he said.
Appearing in the same ABC programme, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran should return to the “P5 Plus One” forum to discuss its nuclear programme.
She noted that US-backed UN sanctions were “biting” Iran’s economy, especially its financial sector, and the talks offer was a “way out of increasing opprobrium from the international community”.
The Iranian regime, she said, was quite worried about the impact on their banking system and on their economic growth “because they’ve already encountered some tough economic times”.
Secretary Clinton urged Iran to release two Americans who have been detained for more than a year on suspicion of espionage. The two Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were captured last year with Sarah Shourd when they crossed into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan. The Obama administration has said the three Americans are hikers who mistakenly wandered into Iran, not US spies. Ms Shourd was released and allowed to leave Iran on Sept 14.
Mr Ahmadinejad said that Ms Shourd’s release was “a huge humanitarian gesture” and that the two Americans still in custody “violated” Iranian law.
“The cases have to be examined,” Mr Ahmadinejad said. “They violated the law.” Mr Ahmadinejad said eight Iranians have been “illegally arrested” in the US and should be set free as a “humanitarian gesture”.
