Iran's Ahmadinejad offers congratulations to Obama

      Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday congratulated Barack Obama on his election win - the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Ahmadinejad sent a message to Obama in which he congratulated the Democrat on attracting the majority of voters in the election. The text of the note was carried by the official IRNA news agency. In the message, Ahmadinejad also said he hopes Obama will use the opportunity to serve the [American] people and leave a good name for history during his term in office. Iran and U.S. have no formal diplomatic relations since 1979 and the hostage drama when militant Iranian students held 52 Americans captive 444 days. In his message to Obama Thursday, Ahmadinejad went on to say that nations of the world expect changes from Obama - mostly that he will change current U.S. foreign policy. That policy, the note claimed, was based on "warmongering, occupation, bullying, deception and humiliation, as well as discrimination and unfair relations and has led to hatred of all nations and majority of governments toward the U.S. leaders." Ahmadinejad also said that Obama is expected to replace such a policy with an approach based on justice and respect, as well as lack of intervention in the affairs of others. "Iranians will welcome such changes," Ahmadinejad added. Current U.S.-Iranian relations remain very tense, with Washington accusing Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and of providing support for Shi'ite militants who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq - charges which Tehran denies. Tehran sees Obama's victory as a triumph over the unpopular policies of President George W. Bush, who repeatedly clashed with Iranian leaders while in office over Iran's controversial nuclear program and Tehran's opposition to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Iran's government refused to publicly side with any of the U.S. candidates throughout the presidential race, although Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said last month that Obama seemed more rational than Republican John McCain. Earlier Thursday, Foreign Minister and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni said on Thursday Obama's stated readiness to talk to Iran could be seen in the Middle East as a sign of weakness in efforts to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear program. "We live in a neighborhood in which sometimes dialogue - in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue - is liable to be interpreted as weakness," Livni said when asked on Israel Radio about policy change toward Tehran in an Obama administration. Her remarks sounded the first note of dissonance with Obama by a senior member of the Israeli government since the Democrat's sweeping victory over Republican candidate John McCain in the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. Asked if she supported any U.S. dialogue with Iran, Livni replied: "The answer is no." (22,17)