Iran does not expect Israeli or U.S. attack

By Parisa Hafezi

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran said on Friday it did not expect an attack from Israel or the United States triggered by the long-running dispute over its nuclear programme.

Diplomats from Iran and world powers will meet in Geneva on Saturday to discuss the nuclear issue. Washington will attend the talks for the first time, a notable shift in policy which has raised hopes of progress.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, arriving in the Swiss city on Friday, said he was taking a positive approach to the talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said he did not expect Iran to come under attack. Speculation of a strike on Iranian nuclear sites intensified after an Israeli air exercise last month.

"The possibility of such an attack (from Israel or the U.S.) is almost zero," Mottaki said, via a translator, in an interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV during a visit to Turkey.

In a further indication of a possible thaw, Mottaki earlier raised the prospect of talks on restoring relations between Iran and the United States. Washington broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980 during a hostage crisis in Tehran.

"I think there may be talks on both the U.S. founding an interest preserving bureau in Iran and direct flights between the two countries," Mottaki said. He did not specify when and in what shape those talks could occur.

POSITIVE MOOD