No change in Iran's US policy:Khomeini's advisor

TEHRAN - Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader, said there is no change in Iran's policy toward its relations with the United States, Tehran Times daily reported Sunday.

Iran's policy concerning the relations with the United States is like the past and "no decision in regard to changing the policy has been made," Velayati was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"Iran is adherent to its strong policies shaped by (the deceased founder of the Islamic republic) Imam Khomeini and approved by (the incumbent) supreme leader of the Islamic revolution," said Velayati, who was also Iran's former foreign minister.

According to the report, during his recent visit to New York to address the annual UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not rule out the possibility of talks between Iran and the United States to normalize relations.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980, after a group of Iranian students seized the US embassy and captured some 60 US diplomats in 1979, with 52 of them held captive for 444 days in the hostage crisis.

Iranian officials have reiterated that any decision to normalize relations with the United States should only be made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.