The United States said Wednesday it would join direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program once Tehran puts its atomic activities on hold, but Iran dismissed the offer as "a propaganda move."
The Iranian news agency said Iran accepts only proposals and conditions that are in the nation's interest. "Halting enrichment definitely doesn't meet such interests," IRNA said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's remarks presented no "new and rational solution" to Iran's nuclear case.
"Rice remarks had no new words. The remarks were a littany of phrases. "Rice's remarks were a pretext for capping certain US crimes in Iraq and the region," Mottaki said, according to IRNA.
"The US should be accountable for thousands of mistakes it has made in Iraq and the entire region." 
Those who have committed crimes in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo are not in a position to judge Iran which is a democratic state, he added.
Rice's remarks, he said, are intended to save the US from further isolation. "The US made the offer of incentives to others in order to materialize its own demands which reflect its conceitedness. "If the US is serious about effecting changes, it should change its attitude."
The Iranian minister said that those whose presidency has only been declared by judicial decree cannot speak about an independent nation which has enjoyed prestige for 27 years."
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
