Iran's supreme leader spurns US offer of bilateral talks Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ... waving to Iranian air force commanders. TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected any idea of bilateral talks with the US on Thursday and scoffed at Iranian officials who might consider such negotiations. Ayatollah Khamenei was apparently responding to an offer by the US for one-on-one negotiations on a range of topics, including Iran's disputed nuclear program, a suggestion the Vice-President, Joe Biden, reinforced last week during a security conference in Munich. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said then he was open to such talks. Iranian officials, including the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Mr Salehi said the US had been taking positive steps towards Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei was blunt in his speech to air force commanders in his Tehran office. He said while some "simple-minded people" might be happy about the prospect of bilateral talks, Iran had seen nothing from Washington other than the same conspiracies. Noting the international sanctions against Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei said: "The US is pointing a gun at Iran and wants us to talk to them. Direct talks will not solve any problems. Iranian and Western officials have said Iran had agreed to resume multilateral nuclear talks with world powers this month in Kazakhstan. Ayatollah Khameini's rejection of talks with the US will not affect those negotiations, set to begin on February 26.