Iran sent one of its warmest signals yet on Wednesday over prospects for improved relations with Washington, praising the election promises of President Barack Obama and declaring that change would be “happy news.”
In a break from the policy of former President George W. Bush, Obama has said he is willing to start talks with Iran, which Washington accuses of supporting terrorism, meddling in Iraq and seeking nuclear weapons, all charges Tehran denies.
“We look positively on the slogan that Obama raised in the elections. The world has really changed,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said through an Arabic interpreter at a news conference during a visit to neighboring Iraq.
“If the American administration wants to keep up with the changes, this will be happy news…. We think these changes will provide good opportunities for the American administration in its relations with the countries of the world.”
“As diplomats, we are destined to be optimistic, and we wish this would come true.”
The tone of Mottaki”s remarks was warmer than many previous Iranian comments, which have tended to emphasize the burden on the U.S. administration to prove that any changes in its foreign policy would be genuine and not cosmetic.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready to hold talks, provided they were held in an atmosphere of “mutual respect.” Notably, Ahmadinejad did not mention tough preconditions for talks as he has in the past.
