Ahmadinejad: Iran Ready to Talk with U.S.

Source: Haaretz, 10-02-2009

The Iranian president said on Tuesday that Iran would welcome a fundamental change in approach from the United States and was ready for dialogue provided talks were based on mutual respect.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in his first White House news conference on Monday that he saw the possibility of diplomatic openings with Iran in the months ahead, marking a break with his predecessor George W. Bush.

"The new U.S. administration has announced that they want to produce change and pursue the course of dialogue," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally to mark the 30th anniversary of a revolution that led to hostile relations with Washington.

"It is quite clear that real change must be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear the Iranian nation welcomes real changes," he said, adding: "The Iranian nation is ready to hold talks but talks in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect."

Iran celebrates the victory of the revolution on the 22nd of the Iranian month of Bahman, which this year falls on February 10. That date in 1979 marked the collapse of the last government of the U.S. backed shah, who had left Iran in January.

Later that same year, radical students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and then held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Washington broke diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980.
Obama said Monday his administration is looking for opportunities to engage longtime adversary Iran in the coming months, but that years of mistrust will be hard to overcome.
 
In his first prime-time news conference since taking office, Obama repeated campaign pledges to rethink the U.S. relationship with Iran, but offered no examples of possible partnership.
"My national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them," Obama said, and added "My expectation is that in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face."

The most promising areas for cooperation are probably Afghanistan and Iraq, both neighbors of Iran where the United States is fighting wars.
Especially in Afghanistan, Iran has a strong interest in containing insurgent violence and the drug trade that threaten to spill over Iran's borders.

He also said Iran's nuclear program poses an enormous threat to the Middle East and could set off a new arms race.
Iran denies it is pursuing a covert weapons program and insists its accelerated nuclear development program is aimed at producing electrical power.