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Khamenei aide says US approached him in Kabul seeking talks with Iran

An aide to Iran's supreme leader said on Monday U.S. officials approached him during a December visit to Afghanistan to request talks with Tehran, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, but the U.S. State Department denied the report.

 

Tensions between Iran and the United States have increased since May, when President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers and later reimposed sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the pact.

 

"During my visit to Kabul last month, the Americans ... asked to hold talks," Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a close aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying, without specifying what the U.S. side wanted to discuss.

 

"This report is not accurate," said a State Department spokeswoman on condition of anonymity.

 

While denying it made a specific overture to Shamkani, the spokeswoman repeated that Trump is open to a dialogue with Iran on "urgent national security issues" and wants Tehran to "make fundamental changes in their destructive behavior."

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.07.19, 21:53