TEHRAN – Iran said on Sunday that Tehran needs more time to assess the situation for further talks with the U.S. on Iraq’s security situation as Washington has toughened its anti-Iran policies.

“Considering the fact that no change has been observed in the U.S. policies, and we are constantly witnessing violation of international law by this country we have to study more about the continuation of talks (with the U.S.),” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told a weekly news briefing.
The U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq met on August 6 for their third round of security talks.
The Bush administration has been pushing hard for a third round of sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program and in a flagrant violation of international law the U.S. House of Representative has designated the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization.
Failure to damage Iran-IAEA cooperation
Hard-line countries have failed to undermine a “positive atmosphere of cooperation” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hosseini underscored.
“Those countries were forced to respect the views of other countries which were ‘more realistic’,” Hosseini said in an indirect reference to China, Russia, and Germany which have opposed new sanctions on Iran.
Talks on P1 and P2 to start next week
Hosseini said Iran and the IAEA will begin a new round of discussions over P1 and P2 centrifuges next week.
In line with the agreed timetable the two sides held a first round of talks on the issue last week, the Foreign Ministry official added.
Under the Aug. 21 deal, the IAEA and Tehran agreed on a timetable for addressing the remaining ambiguities about Iran’s nuclear activities. The IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei has called the agreement ""an important step in the right direction.""
Iran not a threat to any country
Asked about some reports claiming that Iran has aimed more than 600 missiles at Zionist regime in case of a military threat, Hosseini said, “As our officials have repeatedly stated the Islamic Republic is not and will not be a threat to any country.”
However, he said, the Iranian armed forces are ready to defend the country against any potential threats by relying on their “strong deterring power”.
Closure of borders not related to arrest of national
Hosseini said that closure of the country’s western borders with Iraq some days ago was not related to the arrest of an Iranian by U.S. forces in Sulaimaniyah.
The U.S. forces arrested Farhadi, the director of cross border commercial transactions in the office of the governor general of Kermanshah province, on September 20 at a hotel in Sulaimaniyah which forms part of the Kurdish region.
Closure of the borders is a different issue from the Farhadi case, he asserted.
The officials in charge of the borders have always been concerned about the movements of Iraqi occupiers and terrorists, he stated, adding that the terrorists have been taking advantage of the occupiers’ presence in Iraq by smuggling weapons into Iran.
French stance alien to French culture
The spokesman said despite efforts by some French officials to distance themselves from previous stances toward Iran, Paris officials are still regrettably following the U.S. approach toward Tehran.
Iran believes that such positions are alien to the “cultural and civilizational status of the French people,” Hosseini stated but expressed hope that French officials would take a realistic approach toward Iran’s nuclear program