U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday attached great importance to solve thorn issues in Iran and Afghanistan, vowing to engage directly with Iran while beefing up coordination with allies in Afghanistan to deal with Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

Speaking to reporters at his first press conference since swearing-in on Jan. 20, Obama said that his administration is "looking for openings" to start face-to-face talks with Iran.

"My expectation is, in the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table, face-to-face diplomatic overtures, that will allow us to move our policy in a new direction," he said.

Noting that there's been a lot of mistrust between Washington and Tehran over the decades, Obama also said that "it's important that, even as we engage in this direct diplomacy, ...Iran understands that we find the funding of terrorist organizations unacceptable, that we're clear about the fact that a nuclear Iran could set off a nuclear arms race in the region that would be profoundly destabilizing.

"So there are going to be a set of objectives that we have in these conversations, but I think that there's the possibility at least of a relationship of mutual respect and progress."

Washington has no diplomatic relations with Teheran since April 1980, five months after Iranian students occupied the American embassy in Teheran. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days.

Despite Obama's call for face-to-face talks with Iran, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters last week that Obama will preserve "all his options" to deal with the Islamic Republic.

"The president has not changed his viewpoint that he should preserve all his options," Gibbs told reporters when asked if military strikes were an option.

The latest saying by the White House sounds very much like what Obama's predecessor George W. Bush said when the former U.S. president vowed to curb Iran's nuclear program.

Iran denies the U.S. allegation that it is pursuing a covert weapons program and insists its accelerated nuclear development program is aimed at producing electrical power.

On Afghanistan, Obama called for effective coordination with U.S. allies to deal with Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

Speaking to reporters on Monday's press conference, Obama also vowed not to let Al-Qaeda or Taliban militants "act with impunity" in Afghanistan.

There is no doubt that terrorists were operating in safe havens in the tribal regions of between Afghanistan and Pakistan, he noted, urging Islamabad to make sure to control the situation.

"We have to make sure that Pakistan is a stalwart ally with us in battling this terrorist threat."

Pakistan has been a U.S. ally since the latter launched anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan in October 2001 soon after "9.11" terror attacks. However, Islamabad is under more pressure from Washington to take more effective action to prevent from being haven of foreign militants.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2009)