Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said talking -- not military might -- was the solution to global conflicts but that he felt there was no chance for political dialogue with the US because of a lack of respect for Tehran's Islamic government.
"Partnership and security will only come about as a result of dialogue," Khatami said Wednesday in his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum that drew warm applause.
At a news conference later, however, he made clear that in relation to the US, dialogue should start with cultural exchanges.
"The dialogue that I spoke of is between cultures and civilizations, between scholars and wise men," Khatami said. "If those are realized, then we can have political dialogue as well."
"The prerequisite for any kind of dialogue is the mutual respect between the two partners to the dialogue. Any time we sense that the other side respects us and isn't forcing anything on us, we are prepared to talk. We have not sensed that from the United States."
The Iranian president, dressed in a black robe with black turban, said in a veiled reference to the US that military power had limitations in bringing security.
"Military might may perhaps bring transient security," he said. "But the gap between this type of security is the difference between a security based on armed peace and peace based on compassion and friendship toward humanity."
Khatami predicted there would be free elections in Iran next month and indicated that his reform movement would participate despite threats to resign over attempts by hard-liners to disqualify his allies.
"With the will of God, we will have a good election," Khatami said.
Khatami laughed when he was asked if he was "afraid" of a hard-line US policy that President George W. Bush claims forced Libya and Iran to back off attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Asked about reports that North Korea had supplied Iran with nuclear weapons technology, he said, "I categorically deny that there were nuclear shipments from North Korea to Iran."
Threats to peace and prosperity -- especially in the Middle East -- dominated the discussion as the annual Alpine gathering began.
Before meeting Khatami, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged the UN to return to Iraq to help resolve a dispute over elections.
He defended the US-led coalition's decision to go to war and lobbied for international support in the postwar rebuilding.
"I am in no doubt that if we had sat on our hands and not acted, the world would be today a much more dangerous place," Straw said.
He said he also would press Khatami on the nuclear issue, but details from the meeting were not available. An October visit to Tehran by Straw and his French and German counterparts helped broker an agreement on UN access to Iran's nuclear sites.
Earlier, Straw expressed hope that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was due here yesterday, will support an American and Iraqi request for UN experts to assess whether Iraq could hold elections in time for a transitional government to take over July 1.
"If there were to be a re-engagement of the UN and early appointment of highly qualified special representative, that could only assist in this process," Straw said.
UN foreign staff pulled out of Iraq in October following two bombings at UN headquarters in Baghdad, and security remains a concern.
Officials traveling with Straw denied a report that the US-led coalition in Iraq was on the verge of bowing to pressure from the Shiite Muslim majority to call direct elections before the handover of power on June 30.
The Guardian newspaper reported yesterday that the British government has been swayed by arguments from Iraq's most prominent Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, and that the US government also is shifting ground.
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