Armed forces chief General Hassan Firuzabadi said on Wednesday that US President Barack Obama was more of a "realist" than his predecessor George W. Bush in handling Iran's disputed nuclear programme.
"Iran is only seeking to develop a peaceful nuclear programme and it seems that Mr Obama has a more realist view of things," said the general, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.
"The two messages sent by him over the past six months could be a sign of this," said Firuzabadi, an ultra-conservative figure in the Islamic republic who is close to supreme leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In March, Obama launched an historic direct appeal to the Iranian people, urging an end to decades of animosity and offering "honest" engagement with the Islamic republic.
A conservative website in Iran, Tabnak, recently reported that the US president had sent a new conciliatory message, but the report has not been confirmed by Washington or Tehran.
The White House on Wednesday said Iran must show progress towards ending its "illicit" nuclear activities, as Tehran delivered new proposals on how to resolve a standoff over its atomic programme.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, meanwhile, handed over Iran's new package of proposals on its nuclear programme to envoys of major foreign powers at the foreign ministry in Tehran.
Tehran said its "package of proposals" was updated before being resubmitted to the P5+1 group consisting of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany.
The new offer came as the International Atomic Energy Agency was holding a week-long meeting in Vienna, with IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei complaining of an impasse with Iran, while Tehran insists it has a non-negotiable right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme.
World powers have threatened to impose a fourth set of UN sanctions if Tehran fails to hold talks by late September.
Western governments and Israel have accused Iran of trying to develop a bomb under cover of its civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.
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