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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington last week. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/PA Images
Iran

Iran rejects America's 'virtual embassy' plan

Hillary Clinton said last week that the US plans to launch a website offering visa advice to Iranians who want to travel to the US.

IRAN’S FOREIGN Ministry spokesperson has dismissed US plans to create a “virtual embassy” for Iranian citizens in America.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview last week that the US intends to create a website for Iranian citizens by the end of this year in an effort to broaden its contact with Iranians.

The website will offer advice on visas and travelling to and working in the US.

We’ll put it on the web because we get lots of questions that people don’t know where to get answers. How do I study in the United States? How do I travel to the United States? I’m trying to increase the number of visas for students so that we have more Iranian students coming to study here.

We’re trying to reach out to the Iranian people, and we’ve tried to reach out to the government, just not very successfully.

Clinton said the US has no argument with regular Iranians, adding that economic sanctions in place against the country aim to put pressure on Iran’s leaders.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast criticised what he termed unprofessional remarks from Clinton, the state news agency IRNA reports.

Mehmanparast said the comments show that the US is trying to improve its standing among Iran’s public.

Meanwhile, Iranian legislator Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari has called for a formal apology from US President Barack Obama over allegations that Iranian agents were involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

Obama’s administration claimed that the plot involving attempts to hire a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the killing. Two people were arrested.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied the claims and Iran formally complained to the US over the allegations in written correspondence on Friday.

Dafsari told Iran’s Press TV that the claims are part of a wider ‘Iranophobia’ project in the US.

Read: Iran ‘tried to hire Mexican drug cartel to kill diplomat’ >

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