And Washington invited Teheran to an international meeting on Afghanistan later that month held in the Netherlands, during which Clinton sat down with an Iranian official though the two had no one-on-one contact.

In a statement carried by Iran's IRAN news agency Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said his country was "ready to cooperate" over nuclear disarmament as long as those efforts did not create stumbling blocks for countries that wish to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes.

And prior to Washington's announcement on Wednesday, he said Iran "welcomes a hand extended to it should it really and truly be based on honesty, justice and respect."

That has been widely regarded as Tehran's strongest signal for its willingness to echo Obama's call for dialogues.

Years of hostility between Washington and Tehran

Iran and the United States broke off diplomatic relations after the hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran amid the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and official contact between the two countries has been since extremely rare.

The United States and other Western nations have accused Iran of aiming to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists its nuclear facilities are for civilian purposes only.

Although Washington is a key player in the P5+1 talks, the Bush administration had pursued a policy of isolating Iran and refusing to participate in even preliminary discussions with Iran on its nuclear program until it suspends uranium enrichment.

In a brief break with that, however, the Bush administration sent William Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, to an international meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva last July. But then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice termed Iran's attitude at the meeting as not being serious, and such contact ceased.

In a Wednesday statement issued by P5+1, namely, the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, they welcomed the "new direction" of the US policy towards Iran.

Though no date has been set for the next meeting of the P5+1, an official in Solana's office said contacts would now be taken up with the Iranian side to arrange a meeting.

However, as nearly three decades of mistrust and rivalry would not disappear overnight, more goodwill moves, either high-profile measures or behind-the-scenes interactions, will be required to thaw the icy relations between the United States and Iran.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2009)