Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's The United States

No Syndication France Or Germany 1/7/98 Iran. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami'S The United States Warmed To Iranian President Mohammad Khatami'S Words Of Praise For Americans During An Interview With Cnn On Wednesday But Noted There Was No Invitation From The Leader For An Official Dialogue. The State Department Reiterated That An Official Dialogue Should Address Us Concerns About What It Says Is Iranian Support For Terrorism, Its Pursuit Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction And Its Support For Violent Opposition To Peace With Israel. In The Interview Khatami Denied That His Government Was Sponsoring Terrorism And Asserted That Iran Did Not Harbor Any Ambitions To Become A Nuclear Power. While Khatami Asserted That Iran Has No Need For Political Ties With The United States, He Said "Nothing Should Prevent Dialogue And Understanding Between Two Nations" And Proposed Broadening Exchanges Between "Professors, Writers, Scholars, Artists, Journalists And Tourists." President Bill Clinton And Secretary Of State Madeleine Albright Carefully Watched The Interview, The First By An Iranian Leader To A Us News Organisation Since The 1979 Islamic Revolution. Officials Said The Us Leadership Was Trying To Detect Signs That Khatami, Who Took Office In August, Was Prepared To Enter Into A Serious Dialogue To End Over 18 Years Of Enmity Between The Two Countries. The United States Severed Diplomatic Relations With Iran In April 1980 After Islamic Revolutionaries Took 52 Americans Hostage At The Us Embassy In Tehran. They Were Finally Released In January 1981. Clinton Slapped An Economic Embargo On Iran In 1995. Congress Toughened The Us Approach To Iran By Adopting A Law One Year Later That Slaps Sanctions On Foreign Companies That Invest More Than 40 Million Dollars In Energy Sectors Of Iran And Libya. (Photo By Getty Images)