If a Democrat elected the president of the United States, the policy toward Iran will undergo changes, said Richard Holbrooke, an adviser to presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

"We wish to establish direct ties with Tehran, may be with assistance of France. The Bush administration was guided by an absurd idea to fight in Iraq and challenge Iran simultaneously. This is an erroneous idea engendered mostly by variance between Republicans and Democrats. The talks with Iran should focus not only on the nuclear program but also on Hamas and Hezbollah," he said.

"The data provided by the U.S. intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities has cardinally changed the situation. This was a real outbreak of the secret services which openly refused the role of puppets as it was in case with Iraq. That was a real revanche! The reports shocked everyone and the president, first of all. Under the circumstances, the Bush administration will never dare to attack Iran," Mr Holbrooke said in an interview with Le Monde.