TEHRAN (AFP)--Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran is prepared to talk to the U.S. in a climate of equality and mutual respect after three decades of severed ties.
"The Iranian nation will welcome true changes and is ready for dialogue in a climate of equality and mutual respect," he said in a speech to mark the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"It is clear that the change must be fundamental and not tactical," he told a mass rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square.
U.S. President Barack Obama Monday renewed his call for a direct dialogue with Iran, saying he hoped to create the conditions to "start sitting across the table, face to face" in the coming months.
Ahmadinejad advised Obama Tuesday to avoid the policies of former president George W. Bush, who refused to talk to Iran unless it suspended nuclear work and never ruled out a military option to thwart its atomic drive.
"The world does not want the dark era of Bush to repeat. If some people seek to repeat that experience even by other means they should know that they will face a much worse fate than Bush's," Ahmadinejad said.
Ties between the U.S. and Iran were severed in the wake of the revolution when Islamist students held diplomats hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days.
The hardline Ahmadinejad also said that Iran no longer faced a threat from abroad.
"The threats against the Iranian people have been now removed with their resistance and help of God," he said.
"I officially announce that Iran today is a real and true superpower," Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, touting Iran's "scientific achievements" - most notably the launch this month of its first home-built satellite