Hey, can'tcha take a joke?

Jokes about bombing Tehran, calling you evil doers, the axis of evil, the lovers of terrorism... jokes, all jokes!:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The United States is showing signs of softening its attitude towards Iran, an Iranian official said on Sunday, but added that Tehran had not yet decided to attend a meeting on Iraq with senior U.S. officials.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran would decide after talks this week with Iraq's foreign minister whether it would take part in an international conference next month to discuss the conflict in neighboring Iraq.

Egypt will host the high-level meeting of a group of countries that includes Syria, Turkey and the United States in the first week of May to discuss how to stop the violence in Iraq. The conference is a follow-up to one in Baghdad in March.

An Iranian newspaper reported earlier this month that Iran might not attend if U.S. forces do not release five Iranians they are holding in Iraq.

But Hosseini said Iran had not linked the meeting with other issues. "About participating or not participating, or the level of participation, this is still under examination," he told a regular briefing

[snip]

Hosseini suggested the United States was changing its stance towards Iran, saying in a response to a question:

"I agree with you on the softer tone from Miss Rice and in some American officials' statements ... it will be good if we witness this change in their behavior."

"If there is goodwill and if they correct the behavior they have had so far this will create a chance for reconsidering the kind of relations we have," he said.

Hosseini said he saw positive signs regarding the five Iranians held in Iraq, who Tehran says are diplomats but Washington accuses of links to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and of backing Iraqi militants.

Now if we could only do something about Cheney snarling in a corner over his 5 Iranian hostages....