Outlining a sharp break with the often unilateral approach of the Bush years, Biden told an annual gathering of U.S. and European security officials and experts that the U.S. would re-emphasize diplomacy and restore America’s “basic values” in its foreign affairs, a message that was received warmly, if not effusively, by an audience that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and other European leaders.

“America will not torture. We will uphold the rights of those we bring to justice. And we will close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. But tough choices lie ahead” Biden said, adding, “America will do more, but American will ask more from its partners.”

It remains unclear whether Biden’s offer will lead to expanded cooperation from Germany and other European allies in Afghanistan, where NATO has failed to deliver promised military assistance for years, or from Moscow, which has long taken a less alarmist view of Iran’s nuclear program than Washington.

In return for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, as the administration has promised to do within a year, he said, the United States will ask other countries to accept the transfer of prisoners now held in the facility. While some European government have promised to consider the ideas, none has yet committed itself to accepting transfers of prisoners now at Guantanamo.

Nor does it appear likely that NATO governments will agree anytime soon to send more troops and equipment to Afghanistan, though some may step up development aid and other non-military assistance.

But administration aides said Biden’s address was a first step in the Obama administration’s effort to change the tone of U.S. foreign policy in hopes that a new flexibility will produce results that the Bush administration’s more rigid approach could not.

Biden did not mention Bush, but no one in the hall could miss the implicit rejection of the Bush administration’s approach when he said: “We reject as false the choice between our security and our ideals. America will vigorously defend our security and our values, and in doing so we believe we will all be more secure.”

He was careful, while stressing the new administration’s preference for diplomacy, not to rule out the use of force — and asked allies to do the same.

“As America renews our emphasis on diplomacy, development, democracy and preserving our own planet, we will ask our allies to rethink some of their own approaches, including their willingness to use force when all else fails,” he said.

On Iran, Biden reiterated the administration’s willingness to engage in direct talks as part of an effort to halt Iran’s nuclear program, a step that many European allies had urged the Bush administration to take for years, and made no mention of regime change, the policy of the Bush administration.

But he also seemed to call on Iran to demonstrate its good intentions before talks begin.

“We will be willing to talk to Iran and to offer a very clear choice: Continue down your current course and there will be pressure and isolation; abandon the illicit nuclear program and your support for terrorism and there will be meaningful incentives,” Mr. Biden said.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, is attending the conference, but it could not be determined if he was in the conference hall during Biden’s 25-minute speech.

On Friday, Larijani told the conference that Obama’s decision to send George Mitchell, his new Middle East peace envoy, to the region to talk with the parties was “a positive signal,” the New York Times reported. But Larijani called for an end to U.S. demands that Iran change its behavior before relations can improve, an approach he called “the old carrot and stick cliché.”

Biden’s call for freezing the Iranian nuclear program and for an end to its support for terrorism were similar to the demands made by the Bush administration.

In a clear jab at the United Nations, which has passed numerous Security Council resolutions calling for Iran to suspend its nuclear program along with modest sanctions aimed at achieving that goal, Biden added: “We say to our friends that the alliances, treaties and international organizations we build must be credible and they must be effective…Such is the bargain we seek. Such is the bargain at the heart of our collective efforts to convince Irn to forego the development of nuclear weapons.”

Biden implied that Europe and Russia must be willing to take a firmer stance toward Tehran in joint efforts to halt its uranium enrichment, which the U.S. insists is part of a nuclear weapons program, a charge Iran denies. He was not specific about how the administration would pressure Tehran, noting that the new administration is conducting a review of Iran policy.

While Mr. Biden’s address did not break much new ground, he took pains to emphasize Washington’s willingness to change the tone of its relations with government in Europe, which often felt ignored or belittled particularly in the early years of the Bush administration. Rather than quips, like former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s famous dismissal of Germany and France as “old Europe,” Biden promised a “new tone” in its dealings with European allies

To Russia, he made the new administration’s most direct offer of improved relations, which were badly strained last year by Moscow’s military incursion into Georgia.

But administration hopes that Russia would provie new assistance in Afghanistan suffered a setback last week when Kyrgyzstan, once a part of the Soviet Union, declared it would no longer give the U.S. access to an airbase in its capital of Bishkek, a decision that the U.S. believes was pushed by Moscow. The base is a key supply hub for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

In his remarks to the Munich conference on Friday, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov said that if the U.S. terminated a plan to put a missile defense battery in Poland, Moscow would not follow through on a threat, made during the Bush administration, to deploy missiles on the Polish border in response.

Despite his call for better relations with Moscow, Biden restated the administration’s position: It will decide whether to go forward with the missile defense plan after determining the costs and whether the technology is feasible. The missile defense shield, Mr. Biden said, is needed to “counter a growing Iranian capability.” He did promise to consult with allies and with Russia before a final decision.

“It’s time to press the reset button,” he said of U.S.-Russia ties. But he also implicitly rejected Moscow’s efforts to halt further NATO expansion in Eastern Europe, saying “It will remain our view that that sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances.”