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Short Round would talk to us directly, yew betcha
TEHERAN, Iran - Iran's hardline president said Monday he would welcome direct talks with the US if both parties are on equal footing, adding such talks could happen ‘in the near future.’

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not say whether any definite plans for such bilateral talks were under way. ‘We will hold talks with the United States if they come to us on equal footing,’ Ahmadinejad said in a live speech on state TV.
I think he wants us to grovel ...
Ahmadinejad also said he will attend the next UN General Assembly in New York in September in order to defend Iran's rights and propose changes to what he called the ‘unjust’ Western system of administering international organizations. Ahmadinejad has attended every annual UN General Assembly meeting since he was elected in 2005.

‘Equal footing means that when two people want to talk, both have to be on equal terms. Dialogue doesn't make any sense if one side stands in a higher position and the other in a lower position,’ Ahmadinejad said.
And who would know more about standing in a lower position than Short Round ...
For years, Iran has vehemently opposed any direct talks with Washington, though it went to the limited, trilateral discussions with the US and Iraq recently.

The father of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, likened any relationship between Washington and Teheran as that of a ‘wolf and sheep.’ But Iran's current top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who repeatedly rejected such talks in the past - has softened his tone in recent months. In January, Khamenei said Iran's relationship with the United States might not be severed forever. He said he would be the first to support resuming diplomatic ties with Washington, but that doing so now would be ‘harmful’ to Iran's interests.
Posted by: Steve White 2008-07-15
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=244255