TEHERAN, Iran - An aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed the changes promised by President-elect Barack Obama.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, press advisor to the Iranian president, said Obama must "replace [outgoing U.S. President George] Bush's war-mongering approach with a pacifist way and base U.S. foreign policy on friendship, justice and human cooperation."

Speaking on state-run al-Alam satellite news, Javanfekr said the U.S. must withdraw its troops from Iraq to reduce its expenses.

"The U.S. government needs to drastically reduce its expenses because of a worsened economic situation and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the Middle East would considerably help in this regard," Ahmadinejad's press advisor said.

"[Obama's] sloglan was change. We too believe that change is an inevitable requirement," he said.

Javanfekr said there has been no official dialogue about opening an American "interests section" in the Swiss Embassy in Teheran.

"There is no change in the relations between the U.S. and Iran," he said. "For this to happen, there needs to be a change in America's foreign policy," Javanfekr said.

Source: YNet News