Iran asks US to compensate for "past mistakes"

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-14 23:18

TEHRAN - An Iranian lawmaker has said that the United States should compensate for its past mistakes if it seeks to re-establish ties with Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Mohammad Ebrahim Nekunam said to IRNA that, "To prove the claim (on direct talks with Iran over its nuclear activities), the United States should take action and compensate for its wrong anti- Iran policies in the past."

"The US should resolve remaining issues pertaining to our frozen assets and properties as well as the issue of shooting down an Iranian airliner," Nekunam said.

"We have no need to re-establish ties with the United States," he said, adding that, "severing ties with the United States brought us independence in various fields, such as medicine, nuclear technology, satellite programs and the likes."

"Those who had very good ties with the United States have gained nothing to pride on," he said.

Earlier in March, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that his country saw no sign of US compensation for its mistakes.

US State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said last week that UN Security Council permanent members -- France, Britain, Russia, China and the United States -- plus Germany (G5+1) had invited Iran to join direct talks on its nuclear program.

The United States severed its ties with Iran in 1980. Since then, Washington has been trying to beef up its sanctions against Tehran for being involved in anti-US activities and for allegedly developing nuclear weapons secretly.

Iran has denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.