Iran urges change in US hostile policies

Tehran would be ready to hold talks with Washington on the basis of "mutual understanding" providing the White House changes its hostile policy towards Iran, said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an interview with the Japanese English channel, NHK.

Ahmadinejad also advised Washington to solve its own problems rather than interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries, IRNA reported.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties for nearly thirty years after Iran's Islamic Revolution toppled the regime of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Since then, the US has imposed various political and economic sanctions against Iran.

The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of following a secret military program. Iran denies the charges and says it only seeks to obtain peaceful nuclear technology within the framework of the NPT.

The UN Security Council, under US pressure, slapped Iran with three rounds of sanctions over its nuclear program, despite International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) confirmation that enriched uranium in Iran does not exceed 3 percent, a rate consistent with the construction of a nuclear power plant.

The UN nuclear watchdog has conducted extensive inspections on Iranian nuclear sites.

The Islamic Republic says the White House uses sanctions and threats as a 'tool to impede' the progress of the Iranian nation.

President Ahmadinejad had proposed to have a debate with the US President George W. Bush during his visit to New York in September 2007. US officials, however, rejected the offer.
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