NEW YORK, May 5: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday called on the United States to hold direct talks with Iran, hoping that an agreement can be reached to settle the nuclear impasse without military action.

Appearing on Public Television’s news programme, ‘The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Mr Annan renewed a call for expediting diplomatic efforts to press the Iranians to suspend uranium enrichment while putting something on the table for Tehran, possibly technology or security assurances that nobody is going to blow up their nuclear facilities.

It would also be good if the US were to be at the table with the Europeans, the Iranians, the Russians, to try and work this out, Mr Annan said in the interview.