Washington - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday it is time for the United States and Iran to move past the suspicion and mistrust that has characterized relations since the storming of the US embassy in Tehran 30 years ago. Obama issued a statement marking the seizure of the embassy on November 4, 1979 and subsequent 444-day hostage crisis, ushering in years of hostility and tension between the two countries.
"This event helped set the United States and Iran on a path of sustained suspicion, mistrust and confrontation," Obama said.
"I have made it clear that the United States of America wants to move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interests and mutual respect," he added.
Months after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that ousted the Shah, Islamist student militants took over the embassy and held 53 hostages for more than one year and two months.
Obama took office pledging to establish direct talks with Iran to improve relations and rein in the Islamic state's nuclear programme, but little progress as been made.
US officials last month fully participated in EU-led negotiations with Iran about its nuclear activities that the West suspects are aimed at developing an atomic bomb. Tehran says the goal is solely to create civilian energy.
The Obama administration has backed an IAEA proposal that would allow Iran to ship its stockpile of enriched uranium out of the country so it can be readied for use of medical isotopes. Iran so far has not accepted the offer.
"Iran must choose," he said. "We have heard for 30 years what the Iranian government is against. The question, now, is what kind of future it is for."
