With Obama in, Iran alters diplomatic tone

TEHRAN, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Now that Barack Obama, who has called for direct diplomacy with Iran, is U.S. president-elect, Tehran appears to be hedging on talks, observers say.

Obama favors "direct tough presidential diplomacy with Iran, without preconditions," his Web site indicates and states that a nuclear-armed Iran wouldn't be acceptable.

"The United States must prove that their policies have changed and are now based upon respecting the rights of the Iranian nation and mutual respect," Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a close adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told The Washington Post.

In the past, Ahmadinejad said he would welcome direct unconditional talks with the United States to resolve international concerns over Iran's nuclear program. But that was when U.S. President George Bush demanded Iran suspend its uranium enrichment programs as a precondition to any diplomatic overture, which Tehran rejected.

Now, however, Ahmadinejad set some conditions of his own for diplomacy with the United States, the Post said. In a recent interview Ahmadinejad said the Obama administration would have to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, respect Iran's system of rule by a supreme religious leader and abandon its objections to Iran's nuclear program before it can enter into negotiations with the Iranian government.