Tehran mayor backs talks with US

AFP
Friday, October 17, 2008

The mayor of Tehran, a possible contender for the Iranian presidency, said Friday his country would welcome talks with the United States as supported by White House contender Barack Obama.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a harsh critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expressed hope that Obama would make good on calls to hold dialogue with Iran should the Democrat win the November 4 election.

“Senator Obama said in his presidential campaign that he would like to have such a relationship,” Qalibaf said.

The mayor said any talks must be to the mutual benefit of the two countries and “without any sense of pressure.”

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“I think the world community, the Iranian society and the US society would benefit” from such talks, he told reporters during a visit to Tokyo at the invitation of the Japanese government.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Obama has said Washington must engage in “tough, direct diplomacy” with Iran, but that as president he would have the right “to meet with anybody at a time and place of my choosing if I think it’s going to keep America safe.”

His approach contrasts with the current hardline US policies. President George W. Bush famously named Iran as a part of an “axis of evil”. An escalating nuclear standoff between Iran and the West and inflammatory rhetoric from Ahmadinejad has only deepened the hostility.

Qalibaf, seen as a contender for next year’s presidential

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