Special Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    TEHRAN, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Iran's government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham on Saturday urged the United States to change its policy towards Iran and the world, saying the country has no choice.

    Responding to the U.S. offer of direct talks between Iran and the United States, Elham said that "there remains no choice for the United States but change, and this change is determined to be done," Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

    Elham said that "the U.S. behavior of focusing on the secondary matters will not solve any issue. Negotiation and the like is secondary, the main issue is there is left no other choice in the world but change."

    He said the U.S. request of the talks "means the passivity of the Western thought, the failure of capitalist thought and the failure of the system of domination."

    "The only way out of this passivity is to change the outlook to the world and to the human being which is the most important discourse in today's world," he added.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that the United States must make a "fundamental" change in its policy instead of only tactics.

    "Changes can happen in two ways, one is a fundamental and effectual change and the other is a change of tactics," Ahmadinejad told a rally in the western Iranian city of Khermenshah.

    "Those who say they want to make changes should apologize to the Iranian people and try to make up for their past faults and crimes they committed against Iran," Ahmadinejad said.

    In a recent interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, new U.S. President Barack Obama said "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us."

    The United States and its allies have accused Tehran of its intention to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

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