Iran denies US claims of meeting

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said that Richard Holbrooke and Mohammad Mehdi Akhoondzadeh had an informal but "cordial exchange" and that the US had given the Iranian delegates a letter.

She said the meeting had been unplanned but that the men had agreed to "stay in touch".

But on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told Iran's Mehr news agency:

"No meeting or talk, be it formal or informal, official or unofficial between Iran and US officials took place on the sideline of this conference."
"We categorically deny the reports published in this regard," he said;
"naturally no letter was handed to Iran from the American side".


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