TEHRAN, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi on Friday rejected recent reports that quoted him as saying that Iran would attend an upcoming conference on Afghanistan, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

    "It is necessary to say that I didn't have any public or private interview or talks with media during this week as I was busy all the time with participating in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Tehran," Qashqavi said.

    On Thursday, Fars news agency and some other local media quoted Qashqavi as saying on Wednesday that Iran had accepted the U.S. invitation to a conference on Afghanistan and it was open for talks to help resolve the crisis in the war-torn country.

    On Monday, visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who participated in the ECO ministerial meeting, told Fars that "We are much eager to see a more active role of Iran in regional policies."

    Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would invite Iran to attend an international conference on Afghanistan on March 31.

    Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said later that Iran would consider U.S. invitation to attend the meeting on Afghanistan as it considered stability in the neighboring country a priority.

    "If they (Western countries) need us, they should offer (an invitation). We will review it based on a stance that we will help Afghanistan," Elham said.

    The United States severed its ties with Iran in 1980. Since then, Washington has been trying to beef up sanctions against Tehran for being involved in anti-U.S. activities and for allegedly developing nuclear weapons secretly.

    Iran has denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.