Text of report by the Iranian news agency IRNA

Tehran, 17th December: The English-language daily Kayhan International Wednesday, commenting on the reaction of several international news agencies following President Mohammad Khatami's statement at his press conference, wrote that what has been said by Iran's chief executive is nothing new.

The daily was referring to Khatami's statement of his "respect to the nation and the great people of the US" hoping for a dialogue between the people of America and Iran.

Many Iranian officials have repeated several times that Iran does not entertain any negative sentiments towards the people of any country, including the US.

"The only country at present, is the illegitimate Zionist state of Israel which is not recognised by the Islamic Republic because it has been established in Palestine by usurping the natural and bona fide rights of the people of Palestine."

Any country, other than Israel, which respects mutual rights and acts within the international conventions can have normal relations with Iran, stated the daily, adding that "even the late Imam Khomeyni, may his soul rest in peace, had expressed similar views, when stated that except with the then apartheid regime of South Africa and the usurper Zionist regime of Israel, Iran welcomes friendly relations with all countries which do not interfere in Iran's internal affairs and respect its sovereignty".

"So what Hojjat ol-Eslam Khatami has said is not a new proposal, neither is it a change of policy on the part of the Islamic Republic."

Enthusiastically reciprocating the call, President Bill Clinton said: "I would like nothing better than to have a dialogue with Iran as long as we can have an honest discussion of all the relevant issues."

However it seems that Washington is neither sincere nor serious as it is resorting to its same old anti-rhetoric statements against Iran while eager to hold talks with Iran at the same time, pointed out the daily.

If Clinton must have a dialogue with Iran, he should take the initiative and prove Washington's sincerity and seriousness by accepting all of Tehran's repeated demands including release of millions of dollars in assets which remain frozen in US banks since about two decades, stated the paper.

As for Israel, "it would suffice to say what has consistently been said by Islamic Republic officials and the people of Iran that Israel should be erased from the map of the Middle East".

Regarding Clinton's enthusiasm to have a dialogue with Iran, only time will prove to what extent he is sincere, or rather committed, concluded the paper. Source: IRNA news agency, Tehran, in English 0753 gmt 17 Dec 97

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.    
 

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