The exiled leader of the Palestinian Hamas group says he welcomes Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election and is ready for talks with the new leader.

Syria-based Khaled Mashaal made the remark in an interview with Britain's Sky Broadcasting.

"We are ready for dialogue with President Obama and the American administration, with an open mind on the basis that the American administration respects our rights and options."

Mashaal added that the victory by a U.S. leader with African roots would be "a big change politically and psychologically."

Obama has expressed strong support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state and backed negotiations between Israel and moderate Palestinians.

Mashaal iterated that any U.S. administration would have to deal with the Hamas movement in order to resolve the conflicts in the Middle East.

"The American administration, if they want to deal with the region, the Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, they have no other option than to deal with Hamas, because we are a genuinely effective force on the ground, and we are a movement that won a majority of votes in the election. Second of all, it's not right that Hamas poses any danger to anyone."

The U.S. government has had no contact with Hamas after it designated the group as a "terror organization" in 1995.

Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian parliament elections and seized control of Gaza from Fatah in June 2007. It has been locked in a power struggle with the Fatah faction headed by President Mahmoud Abbas.