Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today he had new ideas to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West and was ready to continue talks with the European Union.
The move was described as a "positive development" by US President George W Bush.
In his first substantive comments on the dispute since taking office last week, Mr Ahmadinejad described the EU's latest proposal to resolve the impasse as "an insult to the Iranian nation".
"They have talked to us ... as if the Iranian nation was suffering from backwardness and the time was 100 years ago and our country was their colony," he said.
He said Iran had done nothing unlawful by resuming uranium conversion at a nuclear facility near Isfahan yesterday, a move European Union officials have warned could see it referred to the United Nations Security Council for punitive action.
"We are ready for talks, and negotiations have never been interrupted by us," Mr Ahmadinejad said in a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the official IRNA news agency said.
"Of course, I will put forward initiatives in this respect after forming my cabinet," he added, IRNA said, without elaborating.
Responding to his remarks, the British Foreign Office said the door remained open for Iran to return to the negotiating table.
"Our strong hope is that Iran will take this course. If Iran wants to give the international community confidence that its ambitions are peaceful and that it would adhere to a long-term agreement, it needs to abide by its undertakings and maintain a full suspension until long-term arrangments are in place."
EU diplomats have voiced concern that Mr Ahmadinejad, a religious conservative, will adopt a tougher stance on Iran's nuclear programme than the former reformist government of Mohammad Khatami.
Officials say he has already chosen to replace chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani, a pragmatic cleric respected by his EU counterparts, with Ali Larijani, a more hardline official who used to run Iran's state broadcasting network. Iran on Saturday rejected an EU package of political and economic incentives aimed at persuading Iran to give up nuclear fuel work for good.
Mr Bush said it was a positive sign that Iran wanted to return to international negotiations but that he remained deeply suspicious that Tehran was intent on developing an atomic weapon.
"That's a positive development," Mr Bush told reporters
"It is important for the Iranians to understand that America stands squarely with the EU-3 (Britain, Germany and France), that we feel strongly the Iranians need to adhere to the agreements made in the Paris accord and that we will be willing to work with our partners and deal with appropriate consequences should they ignore the demand," he said.