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More initiatives needed to improve US-Iran ties: Oman

MUSCAT: Recent overtures from the United States towards Iran were a step in the right direction, but more initatives were needed to improve relations between the two countries, Oman's foreign minister said.

Youssef Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah made his comments to reporters following talks in Muscat on Saturday night between U.S. President Bill Clinton and Oman's Sultan Qaboos.

Bin Alawi said Clinton showed interest in political developments in Iran during his talks with Sultan Qaboos.

"The offer by the U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lifting some sanctions on Iranian exports is a step forward, but relations between the two countries need more initiatives," Bin Alawi said, but did not elaborate.

Albright called earlier this month for all-out efforts by the United States and Iran to put two decades of animosity behind them and indicated U.S. regret at its support for Iraq in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

In a practical gesture, she announced an easing of sanctions on key non-oil goods from Iran and pledged to accelerate efforts to resolve outstanding financial claims between the two states.

In the first high-level Iranian reaction, Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the U.S. overture on Saturday, saying "confessions" of wrongdoing against Iran were not enough.

Iran's Foreign Ministry, which initially welcomed the easing of U.S. sanctions and said Tehran would respond by importing U.S. grain and medicine, said on Tuesday Washington was insincere in dealing with the Islamic republic.

Iran's moderate President Mohammad Khatami has not yet made any public comments on the U.S. initiative, which was announced soon after the victory of reformists in Iran's parliamentary elections in February.-Reuters