Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said his country was not ready to talk to the United States without preconditions, in a television interview broadcast Sunday.
"No, no," Ahmadinejad said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" program when asked if he was ready to talk to the United States without preconditions.
"We should just have a clear-cut framework for talks," he added. "The agenda should be clear."
After three decades of severed diplomatic ties, the administration of President Barack Obama has called for dialogue with Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive, which Western powers fear could be a cover for efforts to build an atomic bomb.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said his country was not ready to talk to the United States without preconditions, in a television interview broadcast Sunday.
"No, no," Ahmadinejad said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" program when asked if he was ready to talk to the United States without preconditions.
"We should just have a clear-cut framework for talks," he added. "The agenda should be clear."
After three decades of severed diplomatic ties, the administration of President Barack Obama has called for dialogue with Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive, which Western powers fear could be a cover for efforts to build an atomic bomb.
Obama sent an unprecedented video appeal last month to Iranians for their New Year holiday, hoping to turn a new page in relations.
Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad said Tehran would offer a new package to world powers for negotiations aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff.
"Last year we proposed a package of proposals for talks, everyone knows that in this year many changes, developments have unfolded on the international stage," the Iranian president explained in the ABC News interview. "Many new issues have been added to the agenda, so to speak."
"And we are reconsidering our proposed package," he continued. "We are adding new issues to the realm, if you will, of the talks. And we are going to make that public as soon as possible. We are always ready to talk."
He pointed out that the Iranian government believed "in talking, in negotiating, based on sincerity and respect and justice." He did not elaborate.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told US lawmakers last week that the United States was preparing for "very tough sanctions" against Iran if the new US approach to Tehran failed.
Ahmadinejad has said he will present a new package for negotiations aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff, after the so-called P5+1 group of world powers called for dialogue with Iran.
He said Iran's package of proposals would be presented to the group, consisting of UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.
He said the package was a new version of proposals offered by Iran in May 2008, which it described as an all-embracing attempt to solve the problems of the world, and suggested setting up consortiums to enrich uranium and manufacture nuclear fuel, including one in Iran.
Clinton said participating in the P5+1 group "gives us more leverage with other nations."
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