"If President Obama wants to realise a change, he should stop support for Israel and withdraw from Iraq," Samare Hashemi, on a visit to Japan, said in an interview with Japan's public broadcaster NHK.

He also said that relations between Iran and the United States would improve if Washington "respects rights" held by Iran, including its nuclear programme, according to NHK.

On Thursday, Hashemi handed Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso a letter from Ahmadinejad saying that Iran wants to build closer ties with Tokyo for peace and stability in the Middle East, including Gaza.

Washington severed ties with Iran in 1980 in the wake of the Islamic revolution after Islamist students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 diplomats hostage for 444 days.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, refused to engage in direct negotiations with Iran unless it first stopped enriching uranium, and spearheaded pressure for economic sanctions against the Islamic republic.

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