Iranian Response To Obama: "Minor Changes Will Not End The Differences"

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is reaching out to the Iranian people in a new video with Farsi subtitles, saying the U.S. is prepared to end years of strained relations if Tehran tones down its bellicose rhetoric.

At the same time, Israeli President Shimon Peres is sending his own rare greeting to the Iranian people. The messages were timed to the festival of Nowruz (no-ROOZ), which means "new day" and is a major holiday in Iran marking the arrival of spring.

"So in this season of new beginnings I would like to speak clearly to Iran's leaders," Obama said in the video. "We have serious differences that have grown over time. My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties among the United States, Iran and the international community."

Obama has signaled a willingness to speak directly with Iran about its nuclear program and hostility toward Israel, a key U.S. ally. At his inauguration, the president said his administration would reach out to rival states, declaring "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

It's been a rough start for Obama.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has criticized Obama as merely a continuation of President George W. Bush's policies toward Tehran's enemy, Israel. Khamenei has called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that is on the verge of collapse and has called for its destruction.

In his message Friday, Obama had a warning for Tehran: "This process will not be advanced by threats. We seek instead engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran would welcome talks with the U.S. _ but only if there was mutual respect. Iranian officials have said that means the U.S. needs to stop accusing Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism, charges Tehran has denied.

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On Friday, Tehran sought to play down the significance of Obama's video.

Ahmadinejad's press adviser said that "minor changes will not end the differences."

Ali Akbar Javanfekr told the Iranian state-run English-language Press TV satellite station that Iran will never forget U.S. meddling in Tehran's affairs. The two countries broke off relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In Israel, Peres' audio message praised the people of Iran and said they would be better off without their hard-line leadership.

Peres lauds Iran's ancient culture, calling it a noble nation and urging its "return to its rightful place among developed nations." The greeting was broadcast on the Voice of Israel's Farsi-language station, which is beamed to Iran.

Obama and his foreign policy team are looking for opportunities to engage Iran and help reduce tensions between the two countries, which increased during Bush's time in office.

"You, too, have a choice. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations," Obama said. "You have that right, but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization."

The White House said the United States still has serious differences with Iran, particularly on the threat a nuclear-armed Tehran poses to the region. But aides said the president's message was a way to speak directly to Iranians about the U.S. commitment to work with the country.

The video also was as much an attempt to reach out directly to the Iranian people as it was a gesture toward the country's leadership. While Obama has advocated direct diplomacy with Tehran, he also has said there are multiple elements within Iran with whom the United States could have a dialogue.

The White House said a Farsi subtitled version of the video would be given to select news outlets in the region. At the same time, the video would be available online in English and with Farsi captions.

The holiday Nowruz is not Islamic; Iranians of all religions celebrate the 12-day event. Traditionally, the U.S. president and secretary of state release statements for Nowruz.

"For nearly three decades relations between our nations have been strained," Obama said in his video message. "But at this holiday we are reminded of the common humanity that binds us together."

___

On the Net:

Obama video: http://www.whitehouse.gov/Nowruz

Comments

[Renee27]

Reuters

Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, an aide to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

"The new US administration needed a "fundamental change in attitude", he said. But Iran would "not show its back" to Obama if the US put its words into practice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/barack-obama-iran-message

[ObjectiveRealist]

So the U.S. corporate press has disserved us again, helping ex-president George Walker Bush's flagrantly false narrative of a "bellicose" Iran.

quote:
On Friday, Tehran sought to play down the significance of Obama's video.

Ahmadinejad's press adviser said that "minor changes will not end the differences."
/quote

Tehran really sought no such thing, did they? Iran's leaders really want to be sure that they are not still in the cross-hairs; they want to normalize relations with the United States and have offered inspections of their nuclear facilities which Bush refused through Condoleezza Rice. In fact, it is not Iran which has tried to provoke the United States into a military confrontation, it is the United States, especially under George Walker Bush, which has responded to Iran's industrial and economic growth with bellicose threats of military action.
http://thirdcoastactivist.org/chomskymar07.html

[michiganman2]

BFF!!!!!!!

[newyorkid]

lt is difficult to see lran negociating with an AlPAC driven administration just to please Obama. Obama chose his AlPAC driven administration, and now he realizes that he has precluded any possibility of progress in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

[LeaderofMen]

There was a time - a long time ago - while Europe was wallowing in mud, when Muslims were the torchbearers of knowledge and progress.

There was a time - a long time ago - when Persian culture was supreme.

But... sadly, those days are long over. The reason is RELIGION. Fundamentalist religion.

When belief and ideology trump knowledge and education, everything goes to sh.1t. Proof is in the current events of those Muslim countries. Proof that religion is the death knell of a culture was during the Bush administration. Our country nearly collapsed then, too. Oh. It did. Our economy melted down as a result of belief in afterlives rather than knowledge about CURRENT lives.

[Chaimirija]

yeah well, they're not all religious nuts...he spoke to the people of iran...let us all be honest, if push comes to shove, we will obliterate them...ps, as for european history, same thing happened when rome fell and the pope was running things!

[ObjectiveRealist]

Fundamentalist interpretations of whichever religion is most prevalent within a given culture correlate to social conditions like uneven distribution of wealth, which in turn is tacked firmly to economies centered on natural resource extraction & exportation, such as the petroleum economy.

In the United States, the Supreme Court and fixed voting machines gave us a born-again lunatic whose "ideas" about economic justice re-distributed wealth dramatically upward, pushing our economy further toward services only and undermining the strong middle class that has been the basis of the national culture for 60 years.

quote:
Our economy melted down as a result of belief in afterlives rather than knowledge about CURRENT lives.
/quote
Yes, George Walker Bush's belief in afterlives and lack of knowledge of reality.

[nefertiti]

The Iranian response (on the iranian channel AL ALAM ) this morning was : we do not want just rethoric and words , we want actions to see the real change in the New US admin and then we will act accordingly . but we do welcome the diplomacy of Obama . .

[piul05]

And they are right, if there's a country that has to unclench its fist first and stop the sable rattling, it's the US.

And, it certainly does not help that Obama's message comes out at the same time as an Is*aeli's message - the gist being "we are joined at the hip".

If I were the Iranians, I would make all the right diplomatic noises but take it with a huge pinch of salt...

[Chaimirija]

you mean THE LEADERSHIPs response

[Whinger]

When you try to reason with a mad dog it will savage the hand of friendship, every time!

[Right-turn]

Iran rejects Barack Obama's hand of friendship

Iran has rejected US President Barack Obama's offer of a "new beginning" in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

By Colin Freeman
Last Updated: 8:53AM GMT 21 Mar 2009

The country"s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made a speech on Saturday morning saying that Tehran detected no change in US policies towards his government.

"They give the slogan of change but in practice no change is seen," said Mr Khamenei in a televised address to mark Iranian New Year. "We haven"t seen any change." He added that the US was "hated in the world" and should stop meddling in other nation"s internal affairs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5026873/Iran-rejects-Barack-Obamas-hand-of-friendship.html

I said last night that he was pissing in the wind on this one.

[Chaimirija]

have you no understanding of how it works? did you expect to say OH YES?

[dragonlady620]

The concept of mutual respect is extremely important in the middle east-and Bush has down nothing but insult them for the last eight years, and because of Bush the world has a pretty piss-poor view of America right now. SInce middle-eastern policy hasn't changed much through several presidents you can hardly expect them to immediately accept any promises of change now.
A lot of this is posturing. And it is only expected that the initial response would be skeptical.

[ZenJu]

What negativity in this comment section. People of peace work for peace; they are open to dialogue and reason. What would it cost the Iranian regime to open dialogue with the government of Israel, to sit down and reason together? Is not recognition of the other party a prerequisite for genuine dialogue? The Iranian theocracy's refusal to even recognize Israel (a fellow UN member!) speaks volumes about its sincerity in making peace in the region. Surely the Palestinian cause would benefit from the support of an Iran engaged in talks with Israel? Jews and Persians have had warm and beneficial relations in the past, and as an Israeli, I look forward to the day when, once more, we shall be friends. And none of the thinly-veiled hatred in these posted comments will stop those of genuine goodwill from working toward that day.

[Zengeist]

Iran is right - "minor changes" won't make the difference. That's why they need to go first.

[v eyepete]

There are so many good arguments on both sides in this string of comments. It all boils down to the leaders of nations and not its citizens. Most people just want peace and to feed their families from the fruit of their labors. Our collective leaders are the biggest baz.tards on the block and I suppose they have businessmen's interests at heart and not the interest of their citizens. The citizens would be at fault because they don't ask serious questions and will not take any action until everything has fallen around their ankles. Just as Bush scared the daylights out of most Americans with the cave dwelling Osama bin L., Ahmadinejad needs a demonized America to scare his people into following his megalomanic dreams. The land-grabbing Israeli leaders don't help, nor do the leaders of Hamas. The reason why people can not all get along is because there are so many Nixon/Bush-like crooks who get elected to high office. Ahmadinejad is the same as the rest of them and as crooked as they come. God rest the soul of the 25 year old Iranian blogger who died in prison recently for criticizing the government of this man. Down with tyrants, not free speech.

[Topo]

Ahmadinejad would think the same way as Obama and would say to Obama : "You have that right, but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the American people and civilization."
isn't it more appropriate to hear it from Ahmadinejad's mouth? Iran never bomb sovereign country, nor has it invade 2000 miles from it's soil. So who are the real terrorist ? Iran?, certainly not.

[louisamast]

Iran is a threat because:
1. In 1953 Iran interfered in our political affairs and set up a coup and changed our democratic elected government of Dr. Mosadegh. Iran repeated similar action in many other countries. Just recently has allocated a large fund to create instability.
2. When Iraq attacked us, Iran fully supported this war and provided Iraq with military, political and WMDs. Our 1000+ WMD victims are still in their hospital beds for the world to see.
3. In July 1998, Iranian Navy shot down our commercial plane with almost 300 passengers and crewmembers while flying legally over OUR Persian Gulf using two cruise missiles. Only 100 bodies were recovered from water. The captain who executed this mission received an presidential honor medal.
4. Iran has been involved in many covert missions in our country targeting some ethnic groups for uprising. They also have been involved in some sabotage and mercenary activities, explosions in mosques and military bases.
5. Iran has attacked and occupied our two neighboring countries and spread their large navy including carriers and nuclear submarines on our shores.
6. Iran has been threatening us by initiating and supporting numerous economical sanctions and constantly repeating the phrase “all options are on the table”.
See part-2

[Corral]

This moment of the President sincerely addressing Iran sort of reminds me when President Clinton presented PLO Chairman Arafat with that great deal with Israel. It is one of those moments where there is actually hope in a horrific situtation. A window of opportunity, I'd say. Arafat was greedy and self-centered, refused the deal and made the hell continue for the Palestinian population, ongoing today. If Iran decides to play word games, to try to ruffle their rooster feathers, hoping to make the United States look like a fool, it is they and their people who will suffer again. Sometimes, it is time to shake off the ego, the ideologies and think of the greater good. President Obama is the real thing. This isn't some sort of one-upmanship-game played by a ruthless Republican who only has oil interests and weapon interests factoring in the issue. If Iran would take that leap of faith and make, even a small move forward, they could potentially be the heroes of the Middle East. They don't realize, I guess, that they can gain more power, more of everything if they relinquish this cat and mouse game about nuclear power and get over themselves. I am a dreamer, I suppose. But, perhaps the suppression and negative ideology is too far ingrained in Iran's culture for them to become a positive force in the world.

[dragonlady620]

I think Arafat was losing his mind at that point-literally. Clinton treated him with all the deference and respect due to a world leader-and Israel was prepared to make unprecedented concessions . Arafat blew the best chance for peace for his people they ever had-and he lost a great deal of support after that. He was a very sick man by then and I really think it was affecting his mind.

[Gatormouth]

"minor changes will not end the differences" ? But minor changes can resolve minor misunderstandings, which then may eventually enable more minor changes and so on. Its not the degree of each change but the direction and accumulation of them which is important. This could lead to reducing the differences. The process is what is important. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Per Hegel, it's how change occurs. Could work. Give it a chance!

[klaatu barada nikto]

It's not in the current Iranian's regime to work for peace. They need Bush and will try to provoke a defensive posture from Obama. If Obama keeps on reaching out eventually the Iranian people will respond.

[newyorkid]

Why the US MSM media doesn't report on the 200 nucIear devices that lsraelis have.

[tjdestry]

Same reason they don't report on the existence of a large mountain range running through Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and other states. Things that everybody already knows about don't qualify as "news."

[Chaimirija]

lmao

[Sweetbay]

Actually, the MSM did cover this in an interview with Pres Carter when he returned from one his ME trips.