WASHINGTON, MARCH 19: In a dramatic shift, the Clinton administration has invited Iran to enter into a "new relationship" with the United States to stabilise the Persian Gulf and its oil reserves and reverse more than two decades of ill will.Lifting a ban on US imports of Iranian luxury goods, US Secretary of State Madeliene Albright on Friday said both the United States and Iran had fought conflicts begun by Iraq's "lawless regime" and they should work together to reduce tensions in the region."Iran lives in a dangerous neighborhood," Albright said in a landmark speech. "We welcome efforts to make it less dangerous."In Teheran, Hamid Feza Asefi, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said of the speech and the lifting of a US ban on imports of caviar, rugs and some other luxury goods "Iran thinks it is positive and welcomes it."There was no indication that Iran was taking the Clinton administration up on its proposal for formal talks nor making any concessions of its own."We are not expecting any rapid reaction to it," Albright said of the dramatic American overtures.But she told reporters enthusiastically that "a new chapter in our relationship" was opening. "Iran and the US must move together in a balanced way," she said."Iran is obviously a country of strategic importance," Albright said.
