Obama win = Bush defeat

Tehran - Iranians welcomed Barack Obama's victory as the next US president on Wednesday as a triumph over the unpopular policies of President George W Bush.

Bush repeatedly clashed with Iranian leaders while in office over Iran's controversial nuclear programme and Tehran's opposition to the US-led invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Obama's victory was a vote for change in America.

"Obama's victory... shows the clear support of the American people for fundamental changes in America's domestic and foreign policies," Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted Mottaki as saying on Wednesday.

Prominent lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said the vote for Obama means Bush has failed.

"Obama's victory is... evidence that Bush's policies have failed," IRNA quoted Adel as saying.

"Americans have no option (now) but to change their policies to save themselves from the quagmire Bush has created for them."

Paying the price

Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president on Tuesday night.

The Democratic candidate's win over Republican John McCain provided a powerful call for change after eight years of Republican leadership under Bush.

"Defeat for Republicans is the price they pay for Bush's strategic and tactical blunders," the government daily Iran said in an editorial on Wednesday.

Iran's deputy Parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Hasan Aboutorabi-Fard, urged Obama to direct his call for change toward US policies in the Middle East.

"Obama is expected to learn from Bush's failed policies and correct America's wrong policies in the Middle East," IRNA quoted him as saying.

But Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week that no thaw in US-Iran relations should be expected no matter who wins the election, saying Iran's hatred of the United States runs deep and differences between the two nations go beyond a "few political issues".

Iran's government refused to publicly side with any of the US candidates throughout the race, but Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said last month that Obama seemed "more rational" than McCain.

Open to diplomacy

Obama has said he is open to direct diplomacy with Iranian leaders as a way to break the impasse between the two countries or give the US more credibility to press for tougher sanctions if talks fail.

McCain periodically criticised Obama during the campaign for his willingness to talk to the Iranians.

Iranian reformists said on Wednesday that Obama's victory was good news for them.

"Reformists should be pleased with Obama's victory because he won't seek hostility with Iran and will instead seek dialogue," said Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former reformist vice-president.

Abtahi believes hardliners in Iran would have preferred McCain.

"Extremist conservatives, although they don't say it publicly, favour McCain for two reasons: McCain is a warmonger like Bush and his hardline policy would justify similar anti-US hardline policies (in Iran)," said Abtahi.

The Bush administration has accused Iran of using its nuclear programme as a cover for weapons development and providing support for Shiite militants in Iraq who are killing US soldiers.

Iran has denied both charges.

- AP