Iran Does Not Want U.S. to Join Nuclear Talks

Iran said today that it did not want the United States to become more involved in negotiations Tehran is holding with the European Union over its nuclear program. European leaders urged U.S. President George W. Bush this week to join the EU approach of offering incentives to Iran in return for scrapping some atomic work. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Wednesday that Bush would consider the use of incentives such as the membership of the World Trade Organisation and the sale of civilian aircraft to Iran. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said today Iran did not want Washington to join the nuclear talks with Britain, France and Germany. Iran strongly denies U.S. accusations it is secretly building nuclear arms.