Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Tehran would be patient with the incoming US president Barack Obama.

"If the changes (as proclaimed by Obama) were real and the new approach was based on respect and friendship, then we would welcome it," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Tehran.

"We have time and enough patience and will wait and see," he added.

Ahmadinejad ruled out the carrot-and-stick tactic as a worn-out policy and said the US should stop its hostile approach towards Iran.

"The US has stood for the last five decades against Iran and opposed the popular Islamic revolution in the last 30 years. This must change," Ahmadinejad said.

He also called on Obama and the new US administration to stop interference in the Middle East.

"The new US government should stop interference in other parts of the world, including in the Middle East. Nobody has asked them to do so. They should serve their own people. Other nations are not of their business," the president said.

Ahmadinejad said that the US had a declining influence in the world and should amend its policies in order to avoid more global antipathy. (dpa)