US strongly committed to resolving differences with Iran: Kerry

US Secretary of State John F. Kerry has expressed Washington’s ‘strong’ commitment to settle its differences with Iran amid President Barack Obama’s repetition of speculative statements about Iran’s nuclear energy program.

“Despite the difficult history of the last decades between the United States and Iran, there is an opportunity to work diplomatically to reduce tensions and address the mistrust between our two countries, to the mutual benefit of both of our people,” Kerry said in a statement.

“As President Obama has said, we are strongly committed to resolving the differences between Iran and the United States, and continuing to work toward a new day in our relationship,” Kerry added.

In the statement, issued on Wednesday on the occasion of the Persian New Year, Kerry said that on Nowruz, US leaders would “like to reaffirm our desire to continue building strong people-to-people ties to promote greater understanding, peace, and progress.”

Elsewhere in his statement, Kerry also pointed to international concern over Iran’s nuclear energy activities and expressed hope that the Iranian officials would “fulfill their obligations.”

Speaking in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Wednesday, Obama gave a fresh boost to the Western media war against Iran over its nuclear energy program and said that “all options are on the table.”

The US president added that Washington “will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining the world’s worst weapons” while reaffirming that “there is time to resolve this issue diplomatically.”

This is not the first time that top US officials lay emphasis on diplomacy as the main channel to resolve issues pertaining to Iran’s nuclear energy program, revealing a policy shift from President Obama’s first term when his defense chief Leon Panetta time and again threatened Iran with a military option.

On February 22, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US was willing “to meet bilaterally with the Iranian side,” repeating an offer Vice President Joe Biden had made earlier at the 49th annual Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 2.

However, addressing large crowds of people in the Iranian city of Mashhad on Thursday on the occasion of Nowruz (Iranian new year), Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei alluded to the US repeated offers of direct talks with Iran and said, “Through different ways and messages, the Americans try to negotiate with us on the nuclear issue, but I am not optimistic about these talks.”

“I am not opposed to talks with regard to the nuclear issue, but certain issues must be clarified,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Leader added, “Negotiation is an American tactic for deceiving the public opinion and if it is otherwise the Americans should prove it.”

Iran has vehemently rejected repeated accusations leveled by the United States, Israel, and some of their allies accusing Tehran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

The US and European Union have used the unfounded accusation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Iran argues that as a committed signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.