Arash Aramesh

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of Committee of National Security and Foreign Affairs in the Iranian parliament, said July 18 that the US Congress has requested to talk to Iran via the Swiss ambassador in Tehran.

According to Mehr news and the Persian Service of the BBC, a semi-official news agency, Boroujerdi said the Swiss ambassador met with him on July 18 and expressed the intent of US Foreign Relations Committee to speak directly with Iran. Boroujerdi did not specify whether the committee in question was in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Boroujerdi criticized the United States for its interest in engaging Iran, when according to him and other Iranian government officials, the United States was behind the suicide bombings last week. Since the twin suicide bombings in Zahedan in southeastern Iran last Thursday, Iran has accused the United States of supporting Jundollah, the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The highest ranking foreign policy official in the Iranian parliament said that nothing has changed between Iran and the United States and emphasized that change will only occur when Washington revises its behavior towards Tehran.

This high-ranking Iranian official added, “Why do they expect to talk [to us]” when the US imposes unilateral sanctions against Iran and pushes the UN Security Council to do the same?

Since becoming Iran’s president in June of 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed his desire to talk directly with the United States without preconditions. US president Barack Obama campaigned on speaking directly to enemies, such as Iran and North Korea, but his efforts to engage Iran during his first year in office were not successful. According to senior Iranian officials such as Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has made it clear that Iran’s “strategy is to avoid direct talks with the US, “ thus undermining others’ efforts to open a new front for direct negotiations.

However, Esmail Kowsari, the vice chairman of Committee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, informed Fars news, a pro-government news agency with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, that his committee will discuss the US Congress’s proposal on July 20. Kowsari said, “The US is confused about how to deal with Iran. One day they impose sanctions and then later they want to talk and negotiate.”

During the same interview with Mehr news, Boroujerdi also announced that the government of Japan has expressed its willingness to assist Iran in building earthquake proof nuclear plants. According to Boroujerdi, Japan’s ambassador to Tehran expressed his country’s desire to help build nuclear plants that can withstand earthquakes, despite recent UN and US sanctions against the Islamic Republic and its nuclear program.