Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Tehran on Monday that Iran had not talked with any US officials, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"No official or non-official talks were held between (Iran's senior presidential advisor) Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi and any US official," Mottaki was quoted as saying.

Mottaki rejected some reports that there had been "talks between Samareh Hashemi and former US defense secretary William Perry."

Iranian officials have reiterated several times that they were waiting for the "real" and "essential" changes in the US policies toward Iran.

In an earlier interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, new US President Barack Obama said "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us."

The United States severed its ties with Iran in 1980. Since then, Washington has been trying to beef up its sanctions against Tehran for being involved in anti-US activities and for allegedly developing nuclear weapons secretly.

Iran denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2009)