Date: 12 Mar 2000
Time: 18:08:49
Remote Name: 24.30.137.96
03/11/2000 Agence France-Presse (Copyright 2000)
TEHRAN, March 11 (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi accused the Unitd States of remaining hostile to Iran despite statements from the US administration inviting rapprochement, state radio reported Saturday.
"The United States is not sincere in practice, and we note a flagrant contradiction between its real behavior and its words," Kharazi had said in an interview with the Qatari satellite television station Al-Jazirah re-run by Tehran radio.
"On the one hand, they say they want a dialogue with Tehran. On the other, the Congress adopts anti- Iranian laws," he added.
The legislative branch of the US government approved bills threatening to punish any country that helps Iran obtain weapons of mass destruction.
US President Bill Clinton, who heads the executive branch of government, has threatened to kill the measure. It cannot become law unless he signs it.
Kharazi said, "the American government must resolve this contradiction and build an atmosphere of trust."
The United States and Iran severed diplomatic relations 20 years ago after Iranians seized the US embassy and took its staff hostage. Last week US officials held out a small olive branch to Tehran, suggesting a trade embrago might be partially lifted.