TEHRAN (Agencies) -- Iran said on Monday it was ready to consider any official U.S. request to hold talks after U.S. allies called on Washington to engage the Islamic Republic.

"If they (the United States) really want to hold talks with Iran, they should officially propose it and then Iran will review it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told Reuters.

Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham earlier said the Islamic republic would welcome any change in U.S. policy.

"If there is a 180-degree turn in the policies of America it would be a blessed event," Elham told a weekly news conference on Monday.

"We hope that America reconsiders its policies, leaves the region alone, ... abandons war-mongering and supporting terrorist groups in this region," Elham said.

U.S. President George W. Bush, under pressure to pull U.S. forces from Iraq, met Monday with a heavyweight panel expected to unveil far-reaching recommendations next month for winning the war.

Bush met early in the day with the Iraq Study Group headed by former U.S. secretary of state James Baker and former Democratic lawmaker Lee Hamilton at the White House, spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

The cross-party panel is believed to favor renewing contacts with Tehran and Damascus.

Baker, who seems intrigued by the idea of gaining greater assistance in Iraq from U.S. adversaries, had a three-hour dinner in New York with Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.

Zarif hosted the dinner at his elegant ambassador's residence, the Washington Post said on its Website on Sunday.

Baker made clear that he was not negotiating for the United States but that the commission wanted Iran's input and suggestions. He specifically asked about the possibilities for cooperation between Tehran and Washington on Iraq, according to Iranian sources.

The Inter Press Service (IPS) said the meeting took place in early October.

Leading Democratic lawmakers, fired up by retaking the U.S. Congress in elections last week, said Sunday they hoped to begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops within four to six months and heap pressure on Iraqis to take charge.

The U.S. president has said he will consider any suggestions that lead to victory in Iraq, but has flatly rejected setting a timetable for bringing home the roughly 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

The British newspaper The Observer reported Sunday that Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Bush in a long telephone call to involve Iraq's neighbors Syria and Iran in efforts to stabilize the strife-torn country.

U.S. 'open to Iran talks on Iraq'

The White House has indicated it will consider talking to Iran and Syria about the future of Iraq, the BBC said on its Website.

The White House chief-of-staff has said Mr. Bush will look at all the options.

Speaking on ABC's This Week program, Josh Bolten said "a fresh approach" was clearly needed on Iraq.

Asked if he favored the idea of including Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria, in discussions, Mr. Bolten said all options would be considered.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month signaled that Washington might join talks with Tehran to resolve the Iran nuclear issue, but only if the Islamic Republic first suspended uranium enrichment, something Iran has repeatedly refused to do.

In a keynote annual foreign policy speech in London, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was to call for Iran and Syria to be more involved in efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.

His comments would show his willingness to work with Syria and Iran on Iraq -- an idea so far spurned by Bush.

Mr. Blair will speak to the Iraq Study Group via video link on Tuesday.

Australia: allies should talk to Iran to solve Iraqi violence

Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, one of Bush's most loyal backers in Iraq, also said on Monday talks should be held with Syria and Iran on ending the violence in Iraq.

The Syrian ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha, told the BBC his government would be glad to play a role in helping to stabilize the situation in Iraq - as long as the Iraqis wanted it.

But he said the U.S. first had to accept its policy in Iraq had failed.

Mr. Moustapha said if Iraqis realized other Arab countries were supporting their peace process, it would serve to calm political tensions.

Don't miss opportunity to cooperate with Iran

A think-tank close to the Britain's ruling Labor Party warned Monday that an opportunity to cooperate with Iran to find a peaceful settlement in Iraq must not be missed, IRNA reported.

"Now is the time to bring Iran in from the cold," said the director of the Foreign Policy Centre in London, Stephen Twigg, a former education minister in Blair's government.

"With British and coalition troops facing a determined insurgency in Iraq, and Iran becoming increasingly powerful in the Middle East -- the West must open dialogue with the Iranians immediately and without excessive preconditions," Twigg said.