Larijani says Obama administration must change policies toward Iran

Ali Larijani, member of the supreme national security council of Iran waves before the start of the 45th Conference on Security Policy in Munich Feb. 6, 2009.

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Friday urged the new U.S. administration to change policies toward Iran and admit past "wrongdoings" before dialogue and reconciliation could be realized between the two countries.

"The carrot and stick policy (toward Iran) must be dropped," said Larijani at the three-day Munich Security Conference, which opened Friday afternoon. "Over the past years, the U.S. has burned many bridges but the new government can rebuild them ... if it accepts its mistakes and changes its policies."

New American President Barack Obama has expressed his willingness to talk to Iran, but Larijani had ruled out direct talks with the U.S. delegation on the sidelines of the Munich event.

The United States severed its ties with Iran in 1980. Since then, Washington has been trying to beef up its sanctions against Tehran for being involved in anti-U.S. coalition forces activities and for allegedly developing nuclear weapons secretly.

Iran denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Larijani accused Washington of practicing "double standards" onthe nuclear issue, citing that Washington had not put any sanctions on Pakistan and India which have recently become member of the nuclear club. He also said America had not criticized Israel for "developing nuclear weapons."

He said that as America was the first country to use nuclear weapons, he doubted Washington's sincerity on nuclear non-proliferation.

Meanwhile, Larijani expressed his welcome to Obama's decision to send his new Middle East envoy George Mitchell to the Mideast in late February, saying it is "a positive signal."

But he blasted Washington for "double standards" against Israel and Hamas, saying Washington "had kept silence" on Israel's merciless bombing of civilians in Gaza.