WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. President Barack Obama said his Administration was seeking opportunities to engage Iranian officials within the coming months in diplomatic talks.
Although Obama said his national security team was reviewing the Administration's Iran policy, direct engagement marks a shift away from President George W. Bush's policy of requiring Tehran to meet certain conditions before meeting, including suspending its nuclear enrichment program.
"My expectation is, in the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table, face-to-face, of diplomatic overtures that will allow us to move our policy in a new direction," Obama said, answering reporters' questions in his first official Presidential press conference.
Even though his Administration would seek direct diplomacy, the President called Iran's funding of terrorist organizations unacceptable, censured Tehran for "bellicose language that they've used towards Israel," and warned that a nuclear-armed Iran "could set off a nuclear arms race in the region that would be profoundly destabilizing."
"But I think that there's the possibility, at least, of a relationship of mutual respect and progress," he said.
In recent weeks, State Department officials have declined to rule out the possibility that there would be conditions for meeting top-level Iranian officials, and wouldn't say if one of the conditions could be enrichment suspensions.
Obama indicated direct talks would require Tehran to also change its tone.
"It's time for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently as well, and recognize that even as it has some rights as a member of the international community, with those rights come responsibilities," Obama said.
-By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com