The U.S. president sent a message to the people and leaders of Iran on Thursday March 19 as the Iranian New Year approached, saying this year presents the “best opportunity in decades” to establish a new relationship between the two countries. In a message from Obama on the White House website marking Norooz, the […]
Tag: Iran-US relations
Obama promises no new sanctions on Iran
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed once more that he will veto any effort by Congress to place new sanctions on Iran. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Obama said he will veto any new sanctions bill because he believes such a bill would undo the progress they have made so […]
Report Says Obama Wrote Iranian Leader About Fighting IS
A report in “The Wall Street Journal” newspaper says U.S. President Barack Obama secretly wrote to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in October about fighting Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria. The newspaper reported on November 6 that Obama stressed in his letter that any cooperation was tied to an agreement […]
Iran, U.S. sit down for direct nuclear talks
Iran began direct nuclear negotiations with the United States on Thursday in Geneva. Iranian deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araghchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi attended the meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Wendy Sherman, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Nuclear experts from both sides were also present. A […]
Iran denies U.S. accusation of religious discrimination
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry has rejected a U.S. report about religious discrimination and restrictions in Iran. Marzieh Afkham said the U.S. State Department report about religious freedom in the world, including Iran, lacks credibility and is nothing but a “tool to pressure other countries.” The report, published on Tuesday July 28, puts […]
Expediency Council head says Iran, U.S. can cooperate in Iraq
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, says Iran has shared interests with the U.S. in Iraq and there is no reason to avoid collaboration between the two countries on these matters. In an interview with the Japanese daily Asahi on Wednesday July 9, Hashemi Rafsanjani said: “If necessary, Iran can collaborate […]
U.S. signals willingness to work with Iran on Iraq
As Radio Zamaneh reported, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. is open to cooperating with Iran in order to resolve the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. In an interview on Monday with Yahoo News, Kerry said the Obama administration is “open to discussions” and and would “not rule out anything constructive.” […]
U.S. take steps to deny entrance to Iranian diplomat
The U.S. Senate has voted to bar Hamid Aboutalebi, Iran’s potential new envoy to the UN, from acquiring a visa to enter the United States. Aboutalebi is the political deputy in the Iranian president’s office; however, his appointment to be Iran’s ambassador to the UN has not been officially announced. Earlier, the U.S. State […]
Iran says nuclear negotiators have talked directly with U.S.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran’s negotiating team has already been in direct negotiations with the U.S. ISNA reports that Araghchi said on Sunday December 29 that Iran has been in direct talks with each of the 5+1 countries on the sidelines of the recent nuclear talks. Araghchi said: “This has been […]
Iran’s Rouhani eyes rebuilding relations with U.S., Europe
Iran wants to improve bilateral relations with the United States and other Western powers, President Hassan Rouhani said in an editorial published in a German newspaper on Monday, broaching an issue he has so far avoided since he took office. Rouhani won a landslide election victory in June promising a policy of engagement with […]