Iran slams Obama's tough language on nuke policy

Tehran: Iran criticized Barack Obama for the first time on Saturday, with the country's parliament speaker saying the world doesn't need cosmetic changes in American foreign policy but fundamental ones.

The criticism followed Obama's remarks in Chicago on Friday that it was "unacceptable" for Tehran to develop nuclear weapons and that he would mount an international effort to prevent it.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Obama was going in the wrong direction with such comments.

"Obama can understand that strategic changes in (American) policy are required, not just cosmetic changes," Larijani told state television.

Iranians initially welcomed Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential elections as a triumph over the unpopular policies of President George W. Bush.

Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama on his win on Thursday — the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Asked about Iran at his first news conference on Friday, Obama said he will move deliberately on how to respond to Iran and what the response might be, but that he won't do it in a "knee-jerk fashion."

"This is a step in the wrong direction," said Larijani. "If Americans want to change their situation in the region, they need to send good signals."

Meanwhile, Iran's state radio said that Obama's call on Friday on international pressure to prevent the Persian country from developing nuclear arms was a mere replay of Bush's hard-line stance toward Tehran.

The radio said the call will cast doubt and disappoint Iranian expectations of changes in U.S. foreign policy with the new administration.

The radio commentary said it was still too early to judge what Obama will do, but warned that the new president "will betray the vote of the American people if he fails to bring back rationalism to the White House."

The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon — a claim Iran denies. Tehran insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to develop reactor fuel using uranium enrichment.