Venezuela ? President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he hopes to “reset” relations with the United States at an upcoming summit.

Despite criticism of President Barack Obama, Chavez said he wants to bring relations between the two governments back to a “rational level.”

“I’ll be willing to press the reset button,” he said in a telephone call to Venezuelan state television from Iran. “I hope that will be the policy of President Obama.”

Venezuela’s relations with Washington grew increasingly strained under former President George W. Bush — reaching a low point in September, when Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador and withdrew Venezuela’s Washington envoy.

But Chavez said Saturday that the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago could “be the place to reset all types of relations between the United States and Venezuela.”