 President Ahmadinejad calls on the Obama administration to adopt a "fundamental change" over a "tactical one". |
Iran's President has welcomed an overture by the new American administration, which has promised of "change" toward the Iranian nation.
"We are waiting patiently," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday in a speech in the western city of Kermanshah, referring to the proposed policies of his US counterpart, President Barack Obama.
President Obama said Monday that holding dialogue with Tehran would allow Iran and the US to understand their "differences".
Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic ties for almost three decades. The two states ended all relations in the aftermath of US embassy takeover in Tehran in 1980.
The Iranian President, who has long proposed talks with Washington, said the Obama administration should move to adopt "real change" rather than a mere shift in tactics.
"We will listen to the statements closely, we will carefully study their actions and if there are real changes, we will welcome it," Ahmadinejad said.
The US -- along with Israel and their European allies -- accuses Iran of developing a military nuclear program, while the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory denies the charges.
Officials in Tehran contend that the only aim of their program is the civilian applications of the technology.
The administration of former US President George W. Bush spearheaded efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear program by adopting punitive measures against the country as well as pushing for UN sanctions against the Islamic nation.
President Ahmadinejad said the Obama White House should apologize for its actions toward his country.
"Change means that they should apologize to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against us," he said, referring to a 1953 coup against the then democratically elected Iranian prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, who nationalized the country's oil industry.
Washington has been charged with leading the coup which installed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
In the aftermath of the US embassy takeover in Tehran, the two countries singed the 1981 Algiers Accords, under which the White House is obliged to refrain from interfering in Iran's "internal affairs".
Despite its obligations under the 1981 treaty, the US reportedly opened an Office of Iranian Affairs (OIA) in the State Department under the Bush administration.
The list also includes the downing of an Iranian passenger Airbus A300, which was shot down by the US Navy's guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes over the Persian Gulf in 1988, killing 290.
The Ahmadinejad remarks are the first response by Tehran to Obama's policy of extending an unclenched hand to countries that the US considers as foes.
MJ/MD http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
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