Tehran  - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that he would stay neutral in the June presidential elections and not support any candidate.

Khamenei was referring to press speculation that he would favour President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and prefer him to stay for another four-year tenure.

"I only have one vote and I will not tell anyone to vote for any special person," the supreme leader said in a televised speech in the city of Mashad in north-eastern Iran.

Tehran, Mar. 21: Iran has cautiously welcomed US President Barack Obama’s videotaped message for a “new beginning” between the two countries.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, an aide to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, said: “The Iranian nation has shown that it can forget hasty behaviour.”

Iran, he said, would “not show its back” to Obama if the US put its words into practice.

The new administration in Washington needed “a fundamental change in attitude,” he added.

Tehran  - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday rejected an offer by US President Barack Obama to open a new era in relations until Tehran could see real changes in US policies.

"The new US president sends us a Persian New Year greeting message but in the same accuses us again to support terrorism and to be after nuclear weapons," the supreme leader said in a televised speech in the city of Mashad in north-eastern Iran.

Tehran  - In a first official reaction, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki late Friday said he was studying an offer by US President Barack Obama to open a new era in relations and put old divisions aside.

In a video message to Iran on Nowruz, which is Iranian New Year, Obama early Friday offered a new beginning, saying the United States was committed to engagement, not threats, in its pursuit of diplomacy.

Mottaki, whose comments were made in Afghanistan and were carried by the official news agency Irna, showed a cool reaction.

Jerusalem - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday in a New Year's message to the Iranian people sharply criticized the leadership in Tehran.

In an audio message broadcast partly in Farsi ahead of the Iranian news year's holiday of Nowruz, Peres accused the government of Iran of doing everything it could to harm Israel and its people.

Tehran - Tehran has not officially reacted to Friday's offer by US President Barack Obama for a new start in relations with Iran, as the country celebrates the Persian New Year.

Obama early Friday offered a new start with Iran, saying the United States was committed to engagement, not threats, in its pursuit of diplomacy.

Obama made the remarks in a message for Nowruz, or the start of the Iranian year, broadcast by Voice of America's Persian News Network, which is widely viewed by satellite in Iran.