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(CNN) -- Under the right conditions, the United States is willing to hold direct talks with Iran, Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday.

The United States "would be prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership," he said during a speech at the Munich Security Conference.

The two nations are at odds, primarily over Iran's nuclear program, but there is a standing offer for talks.

"There has to be an agenda that they are prepared to speak to," Biden said. "We are not just prepared to do it for the exercise."

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency that he hopes incoming U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry would work toward softening Washington's policies towards Iran and that Kerry "would at least rectify part of the U.S. government's anti-Iranian stance and policies."

Last month, the United States slapped new sanctions on the Islamic republic, targeting a handful of companies and individuals it says are providing materials and technology to Tehran's nuclear program.

The sanctions, announced by the U.S. State and Treasury departments, were the latest to target Iran's economy as well as its ability to develop nuclear material.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes only. But the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency has said it cannot verify whether the intent of the program is for peaceful means.

A number of Western nations have placed economic and arms-related sanctions on Iran since November 2010 when the nuclear watchdog said Tehran was pursuing technology that could be used to build nuclear weapons.

Since then, Iran has been hit by the United States and the European Union with an oil embargo as well as sanctions targeting its banks and number of its businesses.