Iran
is ready to cooperate with President Barack Obama if the United States changes its policies and practices in the region, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchechr Mottaki said on Thursday.
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"We do believe that if the new administration of the United States, as Mr. Obama said, is going to change its policies, not in saying but in practice, definitely they will find the region in a cooperative approach and reaction.
"And Iran is not excluded from this general understanding in our region," Mottaki said at a panel before the World Economic Forum.
US-Iranian relations under the Bush administration were frozen. But a British newspaper reported on Thursday that the US is drafting a letter to Iran to pave the way for face-to-face talks, and a State Department official said that US policy toward Iran was under review.
Asked about US relations on a panel here at Davos, Mottaki welcomed the new US president's theme of change, upon which he ran his election campaign.
He said the Middle East wanted to see how that manifests itself.
"All the countries in the region are waiting (to see) how this change is going to introduce itself. Is it a change strategically? Is it a change in tactics?" he said.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, who is also in Davos, welcomed overtures by Obama towards Iran and said direct dialogue was the only way to end a long-running nuclear dispute.
"It is the way to go. It is long overdue," Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said of Obama's overtures.
The German Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that senior officials from major powers will meet in Germany next week to discuss the conflict with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
Political directors from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and China are to meet in the Frankfurt area next Wednesday, a ministry spokeswoman said.
The gathering will be the powers' first meeting since Obama came into office last week.
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