Pat Dollard | Young Americans

By Penny Starr - (CNSNews)

A pro-democracy activist says the United States should not engage in direct talks with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad or any other representative of the current Islamic regime.

“I’m opposed to any negotiation between the two leaders (of the United States and Iran),” Manouchehr Mohammadi told Cybercast News Service through an interpreter. Mohammadi said he also opposes sanctions that “hurt the Iranian people.”

Mohammadi was sentenced to death for his participation in the July 8, 1999 student uprising at Tehran University. He escaped from a Tehran prison and was given asylum in the United States in 2006.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday continued to insist that there will be no direct negotiations with the Iranians until they suspend their uranium enrichment program.

But on Wednesday, the State Department announced that a top American diplomat –Under Secretary William Burns — will meet with Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva this weekend.

Burns, as part of a European delegation, will hear Iran’s response to a package of incentives the international community has offered Iran to suspend its nuclear activities.

According to the State Department, Burns’s participation — as a listener, not a negotiator — “sends a strong signal to the Iranian government that the United States is committed…to finding a diplomatic solution to this issue.”

Where the candidates stand

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Democratic presidential candidate, has pledged to talk with the leaders of rogue nations if he wins the election in November.

“Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions,” his Web site says. “Obama is willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe.

“He will do the careful preparation necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table, and that he is willing to lead. And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs.”

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate, opposes direct talks with Iran and has criticized Obama’s position.

McCain says working with European and Middle East allies is “the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran,” USA Today quoted him as saying. McCain told the newspaper he opposes “unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy.”

At the National Press Club in Washington on Wednesday, Mohammadi spoke about the challenges he’s faced since coming to the United States two years ago.

Mohammadi’s brother Akbar also was sentenced to death for taking part in the student protests. He died in prison after waging a hunger strike to protest the prison’s failure to treat him for beatings at the hands of prison guards.

Mohammadi escaped from Iran when he was released from prison to attend his brother’s funeral. He continues to advance the cause of democracy in Iran, recently serving as a fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy.

Mohammadi said the U.S. — by establishing direct negotiations with Iranian leaders — would appear to condone their support for international terrorism. Direct talks would “legitimize the Islamic Republic,” he said.