(7 Oct 2007)
1. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini approaching lectern
2. Close-up reporter taking notes
3. Wide of news conference
4. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson:
"(US President George) Bush's recent comments were more clear than previous times but still there were no new positions, and we have heard them from other American officials in the past. He once more repeated the issue of negotiation with Iran with the pre-condition of uranium enrichment suspension and Iran has already responded to this several times."
5. Wide of news conference
6. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson:
"(US forces in Iraq) say that a large number of captured militias in Iraq are members of (Iran's) Quds Force. As we have said before, we want Americans to hand the names of at least a few of them to us or clearly announce their names."
7. Cutaway of reporter asking question
8. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson:
"It was necessary for us to take measures to improve security on our borders with Iraq. A delegation from Iraq's Kurdistan travelled to Iran and held two or three meetings with Iranian officials and at last we decided to reopen the borders for the time being."
9. Wide of news conference
10. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson:
"France's extremist and irrational positions on Iran's nuclear issue have had no results in the past and continuation of this approach towards Iran will harm the conventional credibility of this country in the region and consequently, will jeopardise its interests in the Middle East."
11. Mid of reporters
12. Hosseini leaving
STORYLINE:
Iran on Sunday welcomed a call by US President George W. Bush for talks between Washington and Tehran but said it would not give up its disputed nuclear programme as a condition for sitting down with the United States.
Speaking at a news conference in Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Bush's remarks were not new, but they were "more clear than previous times".
"He once more repeated the issue of negotiation with Iran with the pre-condition of uranium enrichment suspension and Iran has already responded to this several times," Hosseini said.
Iran's comments come less than a week after Bush told a group of businessmen and women in Pennsylvania that he would negotiate with Iran if
it suspended its nuclear programme, something Iran has repeatedly refused to do.
Hosseini also dismissed France's position on the Iranian nuclear issue as "extremist and irrational," and said their approach had seen no results in the past.
"(The) continuation of this approach towards Iran will harm the conventional credibility of this country in the region and consequently, will jeopardise its interests in the Middle East," he added.
France has recently stepped up its campaign for new European Union sanctions against Tehran.
The Bush administration and others in the West have repeatedly voiced concern over Iran's uranium enrichment programme, arguing it is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
Iran rejects these claims and says its programme is for energy purposes only.
Iran once again denied US claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force is helping Shiite militants in Iraq and challenged US officials to back up their claims with the names of Quds Force members active in Iraq.
Iran closed its border crossings with the Iraqi northern Kurdistan region on 24 September.
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