Iran's top dissident cleric calls for U.S. talks

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's government should hold direct talks with the United States to avoid possible military action against the Islamic Republic, the country's top dissident cleric said in a speech.

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, an architect of the Islamic revolution, was among Iranian leaders who endorsed the 444-day occupation of the U.S. embassy shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, when 52 Americans were taken hostage.

The event led Washington to break diplomatic ties, which Montazeri said should now be restored.

"The nuclear row should be resolved through direct talks with America to avoid a war. Talks about a possible military action should be taken seriously," Montazeri told pro-reform students on Friday in remarks faxed to Reuters on Tuesday.

Criticizing the handling of Iran's nuclear policy is unusual and sensitive because it is seen as a matter of national security.

Increasingly angry rhetoric between Washington and Tehran has sparked speculation about a possible U.S. military attack against Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive atomic work, which the West says is a cover to build atomic bombs.

Tehran insists its atomic work is peaceful.

Iranian officials have dismissed the threat of U.S. military action and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called it a U.S. "dream". Iran says it is fully prepared to defend itself, warning Washington of a "quagmire deeper than Iraq."