"Contact between Iranians and the American people would be a useful step to encourage better understanding between the two nations," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Mr Mottaki spoke to reporters on June 1 in New York, where he was attending a UN meeting.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has agreed to study the idea of putting diplomats in an "interests section" that would be hosted by a third party's embassy in Iran's capital. However, State Department officials note that the idea is very preliminary and not anywhere near fruition.

“Interests sections” are a way to let a country post diplomats in a nation with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.

If such an outpost is opened, it would be the country's first diplomatic presence in Iran since the two nations severed relations in 1979 after the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran by students loyal to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini.