Iranian parliament speaker: a U.S. request for diplomatic office in Tehran would be 'deceitful'

Iran's official news agency quotes the country's parliament speaker as calling reports of U.S. plans to set up diplomatic presence in Iran a "deceitful rumor."

IRNA on Thursday cites Ali Larijani as saying if the Americans were "honest" in their intentions, they would have accepted a 2006 request by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for direct flights between the two countries.

This contrasted IRNA's report Tuesday which said Tehran would consider any U.S. request for an interest section in Iran. U.S. officials floated the idea Monday but no formal requests were made.

Iran has operated an interests section in Washington for years. U.S. hasn't had any diplomatic presence in Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and embassy hostage crisis. (****)