AFP: The White House on Tuesday rebuffed a call from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for face-to-face talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama, saying Tehran has not been serious about discussing its nuclear program.
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House on Tuesday rebuffed a call from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for face-to-face talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama, saying Tehran has not been serious about discussing its nuclear program.
“We have always said that we’d be willing to sit down and discuss Iran’s illicit nuclear program, if Iran is serious about doing that,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
“To date, that seriousness has not been there.”
On Monday, the Iranian leader criticized Obama for missing “historic opportunities” to repair the broken relations with Iran and offered to meet him.
“We are hopefully coming for the UN assembly,” Ahmadinejad said in an address to expatriate Iranians which was broadcast live on state television.
“We are ready to sit down with Mr. Obama face-to-face and put the global issues on the table, man-to-man, freely, and in front of the media and see whose solutions are better. We think this is a better approach.”
Ahmadinejad is expected to travel to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting next month.
Washington and other nations say Iran’s program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons but Iran says it is not enriching uranium for any military aims.
