By RIA Novosti
Tehran : Iran does not intend to restore diplomatic relations with the U.S. broken in 1979, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday.
“We have no plans to normalize relations with the U.S.,” Mohammad Ali Hosseini told journalists, adding that “because the U.S. is continuing its hostile policies against Iran, normalization of relations with the U.S. is not on Iran’s agenda.”
The statement followed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s speech on Thursday, when he said he would be “the first one to support” resumption of diplomatic ties with the U.S. when it is relevant, however adding that now it would be “harmful” to Iran.
The diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution when a group of armed students captured the U.S. embassy in Tehran, seizing over 50 embassy staff who were released only in 444 days. American intelligence-related documents were also made public then.
The U.S. has been accusing Tehran of supporting militants in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority and saying the country’s nuclear program is geared towards building an atomic bomb.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly blamed Washington for spying and preventing Iranian people from accessing civilian nuclear energy.