TEHRAN , Iran ( CNN ) -- Iran 's parliament speaker has criticized U.S. President-elect Barack Obama for saying that Iran 's development of a nuclear weapon is unacceptable . Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has outlined where he thinks U.S. policy needs to change . Ali Larijani said Saturday that Obama should apply his campaign message of change to U.S. dealings with Iran . `` Obama must know that the change that he talks about is not simply a superficial changing of colors or tactics , '' Larijani said in comments carried by the semi-official Mehr News Agency . `` What is expected is a change in strategy , not the repetition of objections to Iran 's nuclear program , which will be taking a step in the wrong direction . '' In his first post-election news conference Friday afternoon , Obama reiterated that he believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be `` unacceptable . '' He also said he would help mount an international effort to prevent it from happening . Larijani said that U.S. behavior toward Iran `` will not change so simply '' but that Obama 's election showed internal conditions in the United States have shifted . He added that Iran does not mind if the United States provides other Persian Gulf countries with nuclear technology , but `` you should know that you can not prevent the Islamic Republic [ from reaching its goals in the nuclear field ] , '' according to the news agency . Obama cautioned Friday that it had only been a few days since the election and that he was not in office . `` Obviously , how we approach and deal with a country like Iran is not something that we should simply do in a knee-jerk fashion . I think we 've got to think it through , '' Obama said . `` But I have to reiterate once again that we only have one president at a time . And I want to be very careful that we are sending the right signals to the world as a whole that I am not the president , and I wo n't be until January 20th . '' Larijani was speaking two days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama , the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution . One analyst said the welcome was a gesture from the hard-line president that he is open to a more conciliatory relationship with the United States . Ahmadinejad said Tehran `` welcomes basic and fair changes in U.S. policies and conducts , '' according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency on Thursday . Relations between the United States and Iran have historically been chilly and have been further strained in recent years over Iran 's nuclear program . Tehran insists that the program exists for peaceful purposes , but the United States and other Western nations are concerned by Iran 's refusal to halt uranium enrichment activities . CNN 's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report . Copyright 2008 CNN . All rights reserved.This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten , or redistributed . Associated Press contributed to this report .
Minister criticizes Obama for saying nuclear weapon development unacceptable . Parliamentary speaker says Obama should use campaign message of change . U.S.-Iran tensions high over Iran 's nuclear ambitions .