WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States is not negotiating with Iraqi insurgents, although Iraqis "come forward all the time and talk to commanders, talk to individuals," a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

    Since the elections on Jan. 30, a lot of Iraqis who "have been opposing this transition to self government in Iraq are...rethinking their situation," said Lawrence DiRita, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.

    "Negotiations aren't for the United States to conduct, and to my knowledge, we're not conducting negotiations," he said at a Pentagon briefing.

    DiRita said he knew of no independent activity going on either by the US military or by the US embassy concerning negotiations with Iraqi insurgents.

    The US embassy took the lead in "those kinds of activities, working closely with the Iraqi government," and "any of these kinds of discussions are ultimately discussions that are going to have to be decided on by Iraqis," he said.

    Also at the briefing, DiRita said the US military was not conducting surveillance flights over Iran. "It's not happening outof this department," he said.

    The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the UnitedStates has been flying surveillance drones over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs and detect weaknesses in its air defense. Enditem