Iran says time not right for high-level US mission, more gestures needed

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2004

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's foreign ministry said that the time was not yet right to receive a high-level US delegation and urged Washington to clarify its policy and make further gestures of goodwill so a resumption of dialogue could be considered.

"The time for such a visit has not yet come," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters, referring to a US offer to send a top delegation to discuss relief for victims of the December 26 earthquake in the southeastern city of Bam.

In addition to sending aid supplies and a medical team, Washington approached Tehran after the quake about the possibility of sending a delegation headed by Senator Elizabeth Dole.

The United States, which severed ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution, also...