The United States, which repeatedly had blocked Iran's long-held desire to join the WTO, raised no objections, the officials said. The WTO takes such decisions by consensus. "Today this house with this decision has done service to itself by correcting a wrong," said Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Alborzi. "We have a forward-looking approach to our accession process," Alborzi added. "Iran has substantive and extensive trade relations with nearly all states present here." Iran first applied to join the WTO in 1996, but the U.S. blocked its application 22 times. But the United States said in March it would drop its veto on a start to Iran's accession negotiations. "This is an historical decision," said Ujal Singh Bhatia, India's ambassador to the WTO. "The principle of universality has been strengthened. We look forward to working with Iran for its accession." WTO membership is one of the rewards European Union negotiators have been offering Iran if it agrees to curb its nuclear program to ensure that it produces only electricity and not weapons. In a continuation of the EU-Iranian negotiations Wednesday, Iran said it would stick by its pledge to refrain from developing nuclear weapons. U.S. officials in Geneva declined to comment on the decision made by the WTO's governing General Council. Joseph Akerman, a member of the Israeli delegation, said, "if the working party's objective is to bring the standards of Iran to the world standards of trade," then Israel has no objections to Iran's accession. "If Iran fulfills those basic principles then they are welcome in the WTO like every other member," Akerman added. For five years, Iran's application was never even discussed because of U.S. objections. Since 2001, the application has been on the agenda of each of the WTO's quarterly General Council meetings, but on every occasion until now it was blocked by the United States. The council immediately created a working party for Iran's accession, officials said. A separate group was also created for Sao Tome and Principe, a country off the western coast of Africa. As a result of Thursday's decision, Iran now has observer status and can sit in all meetings of the WTO. Some 30 countries — including Iraq, Russia and Saudi Arabia — now are involved in accession negotiations, a process that can take years. One country — Syria — still has a request pending for accession talks. Previously the United States said it didn't want to consider Iran's membership, accusing Tehran of supporting international terrorism. In December, however, American officials told the WTO that the U.S. government was in the midst of reviewing its relations with Iran. Some other delegations criticized the U.S. objections, arguing that allowing Iran a chance to start WTO membership talks could spur reform in the Mideast nation and help its neighbors. PIN/AP