Iran could respond to U.S. efforts to engage with Tehran if Washington turns the new tenor of its words into reality, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by a Japanese newspaper.
U.S. President Barack Obama has rolled back his predecessor George W. Bush”s policy of isolating Iran.
The United States also joined Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain in asking EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to find a diplomatic solution to Iran”s disputed nuclear work.
Tehran said on Wednesday that it had prepared proposals to end the stalemate, but gave no details.
“We are studying the comments of the U.S. government precisely and with respect,” Mottaki was quoted as saying in an interview with the Yomiuri newspaper published in Japanese on Friday.
“If the Obama administration turns its expressions of change into reality, there can also be change on our side,” he added.
Mottaki is in Tokyo to attend a gathering of Pakistan”s allies and donors, who are expected to pledge some $4 billion to fund efforts on poverty alleviation, education and health in the cash-strapped nuclear-armed South Asian country.
Asked about Iran”s new proposal for breaking the stalemate over its nuclear work, Mottaki said it would be a revision of a proposal made in May, and was in response to the new global situation, the Yomiuri said.
Speculation has simmered that Mottaki might take the opportunity to talk to special U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, who is also attending the gathering but Holbrooke told Reuters they had no plans to meet.
