TEHRAN, Iran — A top Iranian official said today that his country was ready to open direct talks with the United States over Iraq, marking a major shift in Iranian foreign policy a day after an Iraqi leader called for such talks.

Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator and secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, told reporters that any talks between the United States and Iran would deal only with Iraqi issues.

But any direct dialogue between Tehran and Washington — were it to happen — also could be a beginning for negotiations between the two foes over Iran's suspect nuclear program.

Washington, which repeatedly has accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs and of sending weapons and men to help insurgents in Iraq, had no immediate response.

"To resolve Iraqi issues and help establishment of an independent and free government in Iraq, we agree to (talks with the United States)," Larijani said after a closed meeting of the parliament today.

Larijani said the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, repeatedly had invited Iran for talks on Iraq.

The statement marked the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iran had officially called for dialogue with the United States, which it has repeatedly condemned as "the Great Satan."

The proposal to hold direct talks on Iraq came in response to a request a day earlier from senior Iraqi Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.

Al-Hakim has close ties to Iran, and heads one of the main Shiite parties in Iraq, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

"I demand the leadership in Iran open a clear dialogue with America about Iraq," al-Hakim said. "It is in the interests of the Iraqi people that such dialogue is opened and to find an understanding on various issues."

Larijani said Iran will officially name negotiators for direct talks with the United States but declined to give further details.

"These talks will merely be about resolving Iraqi issues," he told the parliament, without singling out any issues.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently said Iran's Revolutionary Guards had been assisting the smuggling of explosives and bomb-making material into Iraq.