Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on November 8 expressed welcome to mediation by any third country between Iran and the United States aimed to "convince Washington to change its hostile policy toward Tehran."

"If a third country is interested in making an attempt in this connection by conveying the realities and accomplishing the task on time, it is a good idea," Kharrazi said in an exclusive interview with the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

However, he denied rumors that Britain is currently mediating between Iran and the US, saying that there is no talk of mediation and that the required political will should exist in the two countries before they can speak of mediation.

"If other countries could talk to the Americans and convince them to change their attitude, it is desirous, otherwise, there will be no talk about mediation," he stressed.

Referring to the recent US proposal of unconditional talks with Iran, Kharrazi said Washington translates Iran's demand that the US change its hostile attitude towards Iran to pre-conditions.

He said that as long as the US continues its hostile policies, talks would be meaningless.

However, he noted, there have been instances in which the US has changed its stance, such as in the case of fighting drugs and excluding Iran's name in their list.

Last month, several senior US officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk and State Department spokesman James Rubin, called for "unconditional dialog" between Washington and Tehran to set a road map for a normal relationship between the two countries.

However, US Vice President Al Gore later termed Iran as a "repressive and fundamentalist regime," which angered Iranian officials.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of a resumption of ties between Iran and the US, and termed the campaign against "U.S. arrogance" as "an innate part of the Islamic revolution."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday that the US has no unified policy toward Iran and the stand taken by the US officials are contradictory.

Asefi said that the contradictions of the US officials are obvious in their words and deeds, adding that if the US is honest about what it says in this respect, it is required to remove the high wall of mistrust between the two countries by taking practical steps.

The US and Iran severed diplomatic relations in 1980 after Iranian students occupied the US embassy in Tehran and held the embassy staff hostage for 444 days.

During the past two years, there was exchange of goodwill signals, but Tehran insisted that Washington must change its policy before any direct talks can begin.