Iran has chance to find partner in US: White House

Iran's new president has the chance to find a partner in the United States if he comes clean on the country's controversial nuclear program, a senior White House official said today.
Moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani was elected as new head of state Friday, ending eight years of a conservative grip on the top office marked by tension with the West over Tehran's atomic drive.
"If he is interested in... Mending Iran's relations with the rest of the world, there's an opportunity to do that," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told CBS News's "Face the Nation."
"If he lives up to his obligations under the UN Security Council resolution to come clean on this illicit nuclear program, he will find a partner in us, and there will be an opportunity for that."

The United States, Israel and the West suspect Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at developing weapons, while Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes such as generating energy.
McDonough said if Rowhani, a former nuclear negotiator who has promised a more constructive approach to talks, lives up to Iran's obligations, then "there's a great opportunity for Iran, and the people of that storied country, to have the kind of future that they would, I think, justifiably want."
Rowhani, who succeeds Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Sunday hailed his own win as a victory over "extremism.