Top Iran official tells Obama to avoid Bush's rhetoric

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president now serving as the head of two important religious councils, told thousands gathered for a weekly pre-prayer political sermon in Tehran that Iran was listening closely for signs of change from Washington.

"We are still waiting for the new U.S. administration to declare its wise stand, since otherwise they would waste another few years of our time by repeating Bush's words regarding the need for Iran to halt its nuclear program, threatening us, or offering impractical, unclear promises," said Rafsanjani, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

He said that if Obama improves relations with the Islamic Republic, the U.S. could count on "Iran's cooperation" in resolving "regional problems."

Rafsanjani spoke two days after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would be open to talks with America provided the U.S. changes its Middle East policies.

Rafsanjani is considered a relative moderate within Tehran's circle of power and a rival to Ahmadinejad.

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington that Obama "hasn't changed his viewpoint that he should preserve all his options" regarding Iran's nuclear program. Gibbs also rebuffed a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper citing unnamed diplomats describing several draft letters to Iran being pondered by the White House and State Department to break the diplomatic ice with the Islamic Republic.

Relations with the U.S. remain a hot-button issue in Iran ahead of the May presidential election in which Ahmadinejad confirmed this week he would participate. Polls conducted over the last few years have shown that an overwhelming majority of Iranians would welcome better relations with the United States.