Dudi Cohen
YNet News
November 6, 2008

An advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on US President-elect Barack Obama to “replace (George W.) Bush’s war-mongering approach with a pacifist way and base US foreign policy on friendship, justice and human cooperation.”

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who is Ahmadinejad’s press advisor, was quoted as telling the state-run Al-Alam satellite news channel on Wednesday that “the US government needs to drastically reduce its expenses because of a worsened economic situation, and the withdrawal of US forces from the Middle East would considerably help in this regard.”

He continued to say that “(Obama’s) slogan was change. We too believe that change is an inevitable requirement.”

As for the possibility of opening an American diplomatic “interests section” at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, Javanfekr said Iran has yet to receive any no official request in this regard.

“There is no change in the relations between the US and Iran,” he said, “for this to happen there needs to be a change in America’s foreign policy.”

During his campaign Obama had repeatedly said he would consider launching talks with the Iranian regime. Israel and certain elements within the US fear such a policy may hinder the efforts to isolate Tehran, which is continuing to develop its nuclear enrichment program in defiance of the UN Security Council and despite the sanctions imposed on it.

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