Obama offers olive branch to Iran

Agencies

Washington: President Barack Obama insisted on Monday that only government can jolt the economy out of deep recession and offered an olive branch to longtime foe Iran, scrapping years of past U.S. policies.

"With the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life," the Democratic president said during a televised prime-time appearance in the East Room of the White House 20 days after his inauguration.

Underscoring his efforts to reverse the most divisive parts of Bush's foreign policy, Obama said he saw the possibility of diplomatic openings with Iran in the months ahead. The West is locked in a nuclear standoff with Tehran.

"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," Obama said in a dramatic shift from Bush's strategy of seeking to isolate Iran instead of engaging it.

Sandwiched between campaign-style trips to economically blighted areas in Indiana and Florida, the news conference gave Obama a chance to pitch his solutions for the financial meltdown and deepening recession.

He insisted, however, that Iran must stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons, something it denies seeking, end support for terrorist organizations and cease "bellicose language" toward U.S. ally Israel.

Obama also said there was no doubt terrorists were operating in safe havens in tribal regions of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan and the United States wanted to make sure Islamabad was a "stalwart ally" in battling the threat.

He said the new Pakistani government cared deeply about getting control of the situation.

Signaling his desire to ease strains with Moscow, Obama also said, "One of my goals is to prevent nuclear proliferation generally. I think that it's important for the United States, in concert with Russia, to lead the way on this."