Obama sees 'possibility of change' in US-Iran ties

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama on Friday held out the "possibility of change" in US-Iran ties, but his administration insisted Tehran halt its sensitive nuclear work no matter who wins the elections there.

Obama spoke of such a possibility whether the election is won by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is seeking a second four-year term, or by reformist former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi.

"We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran," Obama told reporters amid conflicting claims over who has won Friday's election.

"And obviously after the speech that I made in Cairo, we tried to send a clear message that we think there's the possibility of change, and, you know, ultimately the election is for the Iranians to decide.

"But just as has been true in Lebanon, what can be true in Iran as well, is that you're seeing people looking at new possibilities."

In Sunday's vote in Lebanon, a pro-Western coalition took 71 seats in the 128-member parliament against 57 for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and its Shiite and Christian allies.

"Whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact that there's been a robust debate hopefully will help advance our ability to engage them in new ways," Obama said.

Mousavi later claimed he had won, but the official Iranian News Agency then reported that Ahmadinejad had won.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed a massive turnout in the most hotly contested election since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago.

"It?s a very positive sign that the people of Iran want their voices and their votes to be heard and counted," Clinton said.

A senior State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity that his department could envision a possible runoff, which would be held on June 19 if no single candidate emerges with 50 percent plus one vote.

"It wouldn't surprise us if there is a runoff," he said, speaking of the power of entrenched interests and even the possibility of fraud.

Iran's economic woes and its relationship with the outside world emerged as key issues in the election, which has turned the spotlight on deep divisions after four years under Ahmadinejad, whose firebrand rhetoric further isolated the country from the West.

The Obama administration has been seeking to engage the Iranian leadership in a bid to boost ties, snapped three decades ago.

Obama is offering to open dialogue with a nation branded by his predecessor as part of a "axis of evil," but Iran remains locked in a standoff with the international community over its nuclear drive, which the West fears could be a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons.

Mousavi has pledged to improve relations with the outside world, although there are doubts of any real shift in nuclear policy as all strategic decisions are in the hands of Iran's all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters at the White House that US policy toward Iran's nuclear program does not depend on who wins the election in Iran.

"Our view is that Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, ought to not pursue its nuclear program, its nuclear weapons program and that will not change depending on the outcome of the election," Rice said.

Like Ahmadinejad, Mousavi has said Tehran will continue its nuclear program, which it insists is for peaceful nuclear energy.

The senior State Department official denied suggestions that Washington would prefer Moussavi to Ahmadinejad, saying power ultimately resides with the supreme leader.

"This is going to be hard and complex regardless of who is elected," he said.

The best situation, he said, would be for US officials to open "direct bilateral talks" with someone who has authority to discuss both nuclear and regional issues like Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arab-Israeli conflict.