Cowboy-Fearin' Mullahs

Iran doesn't want America involved in the negotiations.

Iran said Thursday it opposed a US role in nuclear talks alongside the European Union, just two days after a government-linked think-tank floated the idea of talking to an administration that still refuses to rule out military action.

"The Islamic republic sees no reason for US participation in the discussions between Iran and Europe," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the official IRNA news agency.

"If the Americans joined the talks, the best that could happen is that they would bring nothing to the negotiations and in the worst case scenario they would sabotage everything.

"We hope that the Europeans will continue to act independently," he said, charging that it was Washington's aim to convince them that they could not hope to deal alone with Iran on an issue as sensitive as nuclear technology.

Translation: the Iranians know from the example of Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Sudan, et cetera, that the European Union isn't going to hold them accountable for their actions. They know that the United States will. Accordingly, they don't want the capitalist American infidels involved because it will spoil their plans to walk over the weak European infidels.