Iran Offers ‘Dialogue With Respect’ With U.S.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran took up President Obama’s oft-repeated invitation for direct talks between the United States and Iran on Tuesday. The move signaled the start of a long-delayed war-or-peace drama that may help define the Obama administration’s plans to remake America’s approach to diplomacy.

But it also opens up the possibility of new tensions with Israel, which less than a year ago sought American help in preparing an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and is expected to drift further to the right after Tuesday’s parliamentary elections.

And Mr. Obama will have to decide whether to continue a major covert program against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, even while beginning to engage in diplomacy.

Mr. Ahmadinejad promised that if the United States was truly serious about changing the countries’ relations, then Iran was ready to respond in kind. “It is clear that change should be fundamental, not tactical, and our people welcome real changes,” he said. “Our nation is ready to hold talks based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere.”