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Tehran: Iran on Tuesday said direct bilateral talks over its nuclear programme with the US was not an option because Washington would continue its hostile policies against Tehran, state television reported.
"This sort of comment by the US officials is not new ... their attitude toward the progress and development of the Iranian nation has always been negative," the report quoted Mohammad Ali Hussaini, spokesman of Iran's foreign ministry, as saying.
Al Baradei rebuffed, diplomats claim
Iran recently rejected an approach by UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammad Al Baradei for a meeting ahead of the publication of the IAEA's crucial report on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, diplomats said on Tuesday.
The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Al Baradei had wanted to visit Iran ahead of the publication of the eagerly awaited report.
IAEA's deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, and a delegation of technical experts have made a number of visits to Iran in recent weeks.
But a diplomat said Al Baradei himself had also proposed going to Iran, with some suggestions that he might even meet Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini. "But they (the Iranians) felt that the time was not right, so the meeting was postponed," the diplomat said.
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