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TEHRAN - Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today he was ready to talk to the United States if there was a change of attitude in Washington, which faces pressure to deal directly with Tehran to help ease violence in neighbouring Iraq.
The White House responded that Tehran must end its uranium enrichment, which the UN nuclear watchdog agency said today it was unable to verify was peaceful, stop meddling in Iraq and play a constructive role in the Middle East.
"I don't think this is about a US attitude adjustment," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Washington is leading efforts to press for United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear work, but is also conducting a review of its policies in Iraq that is expected to recommend the administration engage with Iran and Syria.
Iranian officials have often said they were ready for talks with the United States, but have always made negotiations conditional on major US policy changes.
"We have said from the beginning that we will talk with the American government, but under conditions," Ahmadinejad said.
"The conditions concern the attitude of the American government. If they correct their behaviour, we will talk to them like others," he said at a news conference.
Ahmadinejad said he would soon send a message to the American people to explain his policies.
"Many of the American people have asked me to talk to them and explain the opinion of the Iranian nation," he said.
In May, Ahmadinejad sent an 18-page letter to US President George W. Bush criticising US policies, but received no formal reply. Bush described it as "interesting".
Responding to Ahmadinejad's call, Johndroe said, "The collective attitude of the world is that Iran needs to play a constructive role in the region, not meddle in Iraq, and stop its enrichment activities."
Bush has maintained that any talks with Iran are predicated on Tehran abandoning its nuclear plans, which Ahmadinejad on Tuesday gave further evidence he would not do.
"We want to produce nuclear fuel and we have to install 60,000 centrifuges, but still we are at the first stages," Ahmadinejad said.
Iran so far runs two chains of 164 centrifuges, known as cascades, which can make fuel for use in nuclear power plants or material for warheads. Previously it had said it wanted 54,000 centrifuges. On their own, these cascades would take years to produce enough material for a bomb.
An International Atomic Energy Agency report obtained by Reuters said Iran is pushing ahead with uranium enrichment and still stonewalling IAEA investigations.
Under Iran's complex political system, Ahmadinejad's government is in charge of day-to-day running of the country, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on matters of state, such as whether to hold talks with Washington.
Washington broke ties with Tehran in 1979 after Iranian students stormed its embassy and took 52 Americans hostage.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is among those promoting US engagement with Syria and Iran over Iraq, an idea under discussion by the Iraq Study Group -- commissioned by Bush to review policy in Iraq.
James Baker, a Republican and former US secretary of state who is co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, had a three-hour dinner in New York with Iran's UN ambassador Javad Zarif, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
The newspaper did not say when the dinner took place.
Hamid Reza Haji Babaee, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, described the meeting as "the beginning of negotiations" with America, the Iranian website Aftab reported.
Other members of parliament played down the significance.
Last month, the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said "foreign rivals" such as Iran and Syria were trying to tear Iraq apart along sectarian lines.
Iran, which has religious ties to Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims, has denied supporting armed groups in Iraq.
- REUTERS
