MP says Iran leader opposes direct talks with U.S.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a sermon during Friday prayers at Tehran University June 19, 2009. Khamenei opposes holding direct negotiations with the United States, a senior lawmaker said in comments published on Monday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposes holding direct negotiations with the United States, newspapers on Monday quoted a senior lawmaker as saying.

But Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said talks on the nuclear issue would continue within the framework of Tehran's contacts with six world powers, including the United States.

"Presently we do not have any new issue for talks," Mottaki said, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

The comments by vice speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar appeared to be in contradiction of discussions on Tehran's disputed nuclear program that took place in Switzerland earlier this month and that included officials from the two old foes.

But he may have been referring to any wide-ranging bilateral talks aimed at normalizing U.S.-Iran ties, rather than ruling out all contact between Tehran and Washington.

Relations with the United States are a sensitive issue in the Islamic Republic, whose clerical leaders see Washington as the Great Satan guilty of "global arrogance."

"Presently, the Supreme National Security Council and the Supreme Leader emphasize that our strategic policies are based on the absence of negotiations with the United States," Hambastegi newspaper quoted Bahonar as saying.

"That is why we will not have any direct negotiations with the United States," he said at a meeting of an Islamic engineers association, the reformist daily reported.

Bahonar did not elaborate on what he meant with "direct negotiations." Other newspapers also carried his comments.

NUCLEAR DISPUTE

Bahonar is a conservative MP who often criticizes the government of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said he favours dialogue with other countries including the United States if such contacts are based on justice and respect.

Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, including the nuclear program and foreign relations.

Asked whether there was a possibility of direct U.S.-Iran talks, Mottaki said, according to Fars: "We will be continuing talks on the nuclear issue and within overall 5+1 contacts."

He was referring to the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- and Germany. Asked about Bahonar's comment, ILNA news agency quoted Mottaki as saying: "We accept Mr Bahonar's opinion."

The United States severed ties with Tehran shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. But Iranian and U.S. officials took part in discussions in Geneva on October 1 aimed at resolving a long-running standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Bahonar did not mention the Geneva meeting.

"The policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on the absence of official negotiations with the United States ... the conditions for such negotiations must emerge, which have not as yet emerged," Bahonar said.

The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear bombs. Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, says it only aims to generate electricity.

(Additional reporting by Reza Derakhshi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Angus MacSwan)