Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said nothing has been decided on a U.S. response to repeated Russian demands that Washington kill the planned European Missile Defense (EMD) system.

She was asked whether the United States is prepared to pull back the EMD shield plan in exchange for gaining Russian cooperation in dealing with Iran.

Tehran has launched a satellite, using the same technology as required for an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, drawing White House condemnation.

Clinton noted that she will meet with her counterpart in Russia in about two weeks, and said the Obama administration wishes for a smooth start to relations with Russia.

"We’re hoping for a positive start to our relationships with Russia," Clinton said, speaking in Japan on a tour of Asian nations.

"I’ll be meeting, as you know, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in about two weeks. And that is part of an effort on behalf of this administration to engage at all levels with Russian counterparts.

"But we’ve made no decisions about anything."

Where agreements are possible, the United States is prepared to work with Russians, she said.

"We have made it clear that we hope to have a positive relationship going forward, which means that we’ll find areas where we can enhance our cooperation; and where we have differences, we will continue to address those."

Some areas where agreement will be sought include limiting the spread of atomic weapons, she said.

"We think there are tremendous opportunities for us to work with the Russians on nuclear nonproliferation, on the START treaty which expires at the end of this year, on a range of concerns that we think connect us, particularly with respect to Afghanistan, which is a matter of joint concern. There are a lot of areas that we want to explore with the Russians, but we’re not making any decisions in isolation from those discussions."