国际英语新闻：Iran's presidential election offers "possibility of change," says Obama

WASHINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday expressed optimism about Iran's presidential election, saying it would offer a "possibility of change" for the U.S.-Iran relations.

    "We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran," Obama told reporters at the White House, referring to Iran's presidential election held on Friday, for which the hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad runs with the popular reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi and other two opponents.

    "Obviously after the speech that I made in Cairo, we tried to send a clear message that we think there's the possibility of change, and, you know, ultimately the election is for the Iranians to decide," said Obama.

    "You're seeing people looking at new possibilities. And whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact that there's been a robust debate hopefully will help advance our ability to engage them in new ways," said the president, who has vowed to engage Tehran in order to reduce tensions between the two countries and persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

    Polling stations across Iran opened on Friday morning for voting in the country's presidential election and there were 46.2 million eligible voters for this year's election.

    According to Iran's election law, any candidate who gains over 50 percent of the vote wins the presidential election. If no winner emerges in the first round, the top two candidates will contest in a run-off one week later.

    Official result for the election is expected to be announced less than 24 hours after polls close Friday evening.

    "Our outreach to Iran is not dependent on a particular result. We look forward to engaging the new Iranian administration on the full range of issues before us," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley at the daily press conference.