President Barack Obama delivers speech in Cairo, Egypt, 04 Jun 2009U.S. President Barack Obama says he is prepared to work with Iran"without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect" to resolveissues between the two countries.

But in his speech to theMuslim world from Cairo, Mr. Obama reiterated the U.S. position thatIran must not be allowed to pursue nuclear weapons.

No proliferation

TheUnited States and its Western allies fear Iran's uranium enrichmentactivities are being used to create nuclear weapons. Tehran insiststhat its nuclear program is for the peaceful purpose of civilian energy.

PresidentObama said the opposition to Tehran developing a nuclear weapon isaimed at preventing a nuclear arms race in the region.

He alsosaid no single nation should decide which countries have nuclearweapons. But he "strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek aworld in which no nations hold nuclear weapons."

Timultuous history

Mr. Obama acknowledged what he called a "tumultuous history" between the United States and Iran.

Hesaid that during the Cold War, Washington played a role in theoverthrow of Iran's democratically elected government . Analystsbelieve this is the first time a U.S. president has publiclyacknowledged a U.S. role in the 1953 coup that toppled Iranian PrimeMinister Mohammed Mosaddeq.

Ready to move forward

Mr.Obama also said that since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played arole in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops andcivilians.

He said that the United States is ready to move forward and asked what type of future Iran wants to build.

Inan April interview on U.S. television, Iranian President MahmoudAhmadinejad said his government is working on a package of proposalsfor U.S. talks and plans on releasing it soon.