Iranian reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi said on Tuesday that he would change Iran's executive mode if he is elected as president.
Karroubi told reporters in a news conference that he would prefer "good diplomacy" in foreign policy and try to establish " logical, wise and proud" relationship with other countries.
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements have caused many problems that we pay a lot for it," he said, adding that it is needless to provoke the West by ignoring the Holocaust.
Asked about Iran's disputable nuclear program, Karroubi's political advisor Gholamhossein Karbaschi said that how to ease the current tensions between Iran and the West over nuclear issue will be the first task for the new government, and Iran should take advantage of the positive atmosphere that Barack Obama administration has created.
Changing Iran's gloomy image in the international society is another arduous task, the advisor added.
"Obama has ability to make good relationship with people," Karroubi told Xinhua, "all the people are saying he has made an unparalleled presidential race in U.S. history."
"The attempts that he (Obama) is doing to change relations with the Islamic world are very important," he said, adding that he still needs to do more such as removing sanctions against Iran.
Karroubi also ruled out the possibility of withdrawing from the June 12 election.
Karroubi, who served as parliament speaker from 1989 to 1992 and from 2000 to 2004, announced his decision to run for presidency in Iran's upcoming presidential election in June.
Former president Mohammad Khatami who withdrew his candidacy said on Sunday that Karroubi and another reformist contender, Mir- Hossein Mousavi, should agree on a single candidate to run against incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
No political figure from the conservative camp has yet officially announced their candidacy, but a consultant to Ahmadinejad said in February that the incumbent president had decided to run in the upcoming presidential election.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)
