Iran Softens Tone, Declares Readiness To Resume Talks

"There is an overreaction to the matter of the Holocaust," Larijani said. "It's a historical matter. I can't see why such sensitivities are being given to such a simple case."

Larijani also said Iran was a force for regional stability in the Middle East and had no designs on any of its neighbors, including Iraq and Israel. "We pose no threat, and if we are conducting nuclear research and development, we are no threat to Israel," he said.

Instead, Larijani blamed the United States for bringing chaos to the Middle East and South Asia, noting that it had invaded two of Iran's neighbors, Iraq and Afghanistan. He echoed some of the criticism leveled a day earlier in Munich by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who harshly accused the United States of making the world more dangerous than at any point during the Cold War.

In his own speech at the Munich conference Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates used both humor and pointed remarks to parry Putin's speech. "One Cold War was quite enough," Gates told the audience of about 200 defense and foreign ministers and other officials from about two dozen countries.

Alluding to the fact that both he and Putin are former intelligence officials, Gates said, "I guess old spies have a habit of blunt speaking."

But he added, "I've been to reeducation camp" -- a reference to the four years he spent as president of Texas A&M University before becoming the Pentagon chief.

Gates, who has been defense secretary for just two months, noted that he has accepted an invitation from Putin to visit Russia.

Gates devoted most of his speech to urging NATO members to contribute to the force fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

"It is vitally important that the success Afghanistan has achieved not be allowed to slip away through neglect or lack of political will or resolve," Gates said.