The United States has reacted cautiously to the offer by the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, for cultural exchanges to ease relations which have been frozen since 1979. Mr Khatami, victor of presidential elections several months ago, made the comment during a ground-breaking interview on CNN.
It is 18 years since the new Iranian regime took over the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, ushering in an era of deep animosity between the two countries.
But there was disappointment in Washington that President Khatami excluded any political dialogue between the two countries, saying: "Iran has no need for political ties with the United States." He was speaking in a 45-minute interview with CNN, the first interview that an Iranian leader has given to a US media outlet since 1979.
The interview was watched with great interest by President Clinton and the Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright. They heard President Khatami denouncing "mistrust" between the two governments and calling for a dialogue which would include exchanges between "professors, writers, scholars, artists, journalists and tourists".
President Khatami referred to the hostage-taking when he said: "I know that the feelings of the great American people have been hurt and of course I regret it." He also said he was not happy with Iranians burning the American flag.
A State Department spokesman said after the broadcast that while the US welcomed the call for dialogue with the American people, "we continue to believe the way to address the issues between us is for our two governments to talk directly". The White House press secretary said President Clinton "appreciated the positive remarks".
The CNN interview is seen here as a significant follow-up to the press conference by President Khatami last month in which he expressed his hopes for "a thoughtful dialogue" with "the great people of the United States". There is also an awareness here that President Khatami has to tread cautiously in view of the harsher views towards the US by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni.
The US is still insisting, however, that while Iran can raise its own issues, Washington's agenda will include "Iran's support for terrorism, its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and its support for violent opposition to the Middle East peace process".
Real improvement in relations "will depend, not on what the government of Iran says but what it does", the State Department spokesman said.