oneworldtalk

BARACK Obama has offered to extend a hand of friendship to the entire Muslim world, including Iran, in a clear shift from the confrontational and divisive tone that has characterised American diplomacy in the Middle East over recent years.

His comments came in an interview with an Arab television station - chosen symbolically as his first with the foreign media - that was aired as George Mitchell, the US Middle East peace envoy, arrived in Egypt for a six-stop visit to the region.

"It is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what's happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan. These things are interrelated," he said.

"We are looking at the region as a whole and communicating a message to the Arab world and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest."

Under George Bush, the US had sought to exploit divisions between what it called moderate Sunni governments and pariah states such as Iran or Syria, which sponsor radical Islamic groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Mr Obama, while underlining his commitment to Israeli security, said that it was important to talk to Iran so that differences and "potential avenues for progress" could be explored. "If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us," he added.

He refrained from repeating his own uncompromising language of recent months towards the nuclear ambitions of Iran, its threats against Israel and its support for terrorism, saying merely that "none of these things have been helpful".

Instead, he said: "I said during the campaign that it is very important for us to make sure that we are using all the tools of US power, including diplomacy, in our relationship with Iran. Now, the Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilisation is a great civilisation. Iran has acted in ways that's not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region."

The British Ambassador in Tehran briefed Mr Obama's officials on a visit to Washington last year. There has has been speculation that the US could open an interests section at the Swiss Embassy after Iranian elections in June - 30 years after an Islamic revolution that led to the severing of all diplomatic ties between the two.

Mr Obama's interview with the al-Arabiya television station based in Dubai also marked a sharp departure from efforts in the past year to stamp out rumours that he was a Muslim - like much of his father's family - or that he harboured secret sympathies with the religion dating from his time spent in Indonesia as a child.

In the remarks broadcast yesterday he made a virtue out of his background. "I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries," he said. "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect."

The President confirmed that he would make a speech from an Islamic capital within the coming months, adding that he hoped to "do a more effective job of reaching out, listening" to Muslims everywhere "because all too often the United States starts by dictating".

Opinion polls show that many Arabs are optimistic that Mr Obama's arrival in the White House will signal a profound change in US foreign policy.

Some were angered however by his silence over the Israeli military intervention in Gaza during the presidential transition and there have already been protests in Pakistan about the US airstrikes over the weekend that killed as many as 20 people at suspected terrorist hideaways on the Afghan border.

Al-Qaeda leaders, having lost what one former CIA official described this week as "a near-perfect foil" in Mr Bush, have branded Mr Obama a "house Negro," and an "enemy of Muslims".

Mr Obama said: "I cannot respect terrorist organisations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down."

He added that al-Qaeda seemed nervous, saying: "What that tells me is that their ideas are bankrupt. What they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognised that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction.

"Sending George Mitchell to the Middle East is fulfilling my campaign promise that we're not going to wait until the end of my Administration to deal with Palestinian and Israeli peace, we're going to start now. It may take a long time to do, but we're going to do it now."