Iran Denies US Reports of Warm Talks at Conference

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzadeh, smiles upon arrival at the Afghanistan...

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzadeh, smiles upon arrival at the Afghanistan Conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday March 31, 2009. A 72-nation conference on Afghanistan will launch a broader international commitment to the security of the region, including neighboring Pakistan, special U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said Monday. The hastily convened conference brings together all the countries bordering Afghanistan, including Iran, and all nations contributing troops to the NATO-led international force fighting Taliban insurgents. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

(AP)

Iran dismissed American government reports that senior U.S. and Iran envoys had a cordial — and promising — face-to-face exchange at an international conference, saying Wednesday that no "talks" took place. The competing accounts of Tuesday's encounter in the Netherlands appeared to reflect the different approaches to overtures to end the United States' and Iran's nearly 30-year diplomat standoff.

Washington has seemed eager to build on President Barack Obama's surprise video message last month to seek engagement with Iran's ruling clerics. Iran has — in public, at least — been far cooler to making immediate contacts, but has not fully rejected some openings in the future.

Iran's take on The Hague conference was just as nuanced — not flatly denying that senior U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke and Iranian diplomat Mehdi Akhundzadeh met at a conference to discuss Afghanistan but concentrating on the semantics of whether official talks took place.