TEHRAN Majlis Speaker Mahdi Karrubi answered the questions of the American lawmakers in the New York Metropolitan Museum in a quite accidental meeting which was not pre-planned, a source at IRNA told the TEHRAN TIMES.
While visiting the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Majlis Speaker Mahdi Karrubi held a question-answer session.
During the session, he came across three American lawmakers who asked some questions on bilateral ties and the issue of Iranian Jews imprisoned on charges of espionage.
Karrubi also raised some objections against U.S. sanctions and hostile policies against Iran.
The stories dispatched by IRNA on the issue are in fact contradictory.
While IRNA in its first story about the meeting said that Karrubi held talks with the American lawmakers, in another story it said Karrubi came across the lawmakers accidentally.
Still in an interview with one of the American lawmakers, IRNA quoted the American lawmakers as saying that he participated in a question-answer session held by Karrubi.
Talking to the TEHRAN TIMES, an IRNA editor said, there are some contortions in the dispatches.
Meanwhile, a member of the Iranian parliamentary delegation, Elaheh Koolaee talking to IRNA yesterday said, the Americans were aware of the meeting.
The BBC and Le Monde said that the meeting was accidental.
The onus is now on IRNA as a national news agency to clear doubts and ambiguity about the nature of the meeting between the Iranian and American delegations.
In her interview with IRNA, Koolaee said, there are massive efforts in the United States to resume ties with Iran and compensate for the hostile policies.
A wide range of influential U.S.-based Iranian groups and American companies play an active role in this regard, she said.
Of course, some American groups and the Zionist lobby are against any rapprochement and spare no effort to undermine those attempts, she said.
The Americans have realized that Iran is not like Iraq and it is not easy to contain it through the dual containment policy, she added.
The Americans have realized that through their sanctions they have only paved the way for their Russian and European rivals, she said.
Besides some official circles, even the public opinion does not agree with the continuation of the current policy toward Iran.
About seventy percent of the people and 90 percent of the elite in U.S. oppose the current U.S. policy, she said.