Iran Says It's Happy to Talk With The United States

"We look positively on the slogan that Obama raised in the elections. The world has really changed," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said through an Arabic interpreter at a news conference during a visit to neighbouring Iraq.

"If the American administration wants to keep up with the changes, this will be happy news.... We think these changes will provide good opportunities for the American administration in its relations with the countries of the world."

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashavi called on the U.S. to drop "carrot and stick" policy, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

    Qashavi recommended the new U.S. administration to abandon its "carrot and stick" policy and avoid threatening others, according to the report.

Although the US media have focused on Biden's "conciliatory" gesture and his statement that the US is "willing to talk to Iran", the devil is in the details and a careful deconstruction of Biden's security narrative leaves no doubt that the administration is short in the supply of fresh thinking on global issues.

The mob advanced on the former president, shouting "Death to Khatami. We do not want American government", but he was saved from serious injury by supporters, who surrounded him, the Baran Foundation website said. The incident was not independently confirmed.