Friday, March 27, 2009

Iran Clarifies Its Response to Obama   [Michael Rubin]

Followers of the Iran News Round Up may have detected some Iranian frustration with the gap between the intent of their responses to Obama's outreach and how the U.S. media and public officials have characterized enthusiasm to engage.

In today's official public sermon, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani stated even more clearly:

There are those who mistakenly believe [Khamenei's response] serves as a green light to America, but this is not the case and this is the position Iran has held from the beginning of the revolution...

The key section of Khamenei's response, skipped over by the New York Times:

Have you changed anything but your words? If your enmity against the Iranian nation has truly ended, have you released Iranian assets? Have you removed sanctions? Have you ended your propaganda warfare? Have you ended your unconditional support for the Zionist regime…? Changing rhetoric must not be followed by unchanged intentions.

As always, the Iran News Round Up — currently with an e-mail subscription base of over 500 government, military, media, and human-rights activist subscribers in the United States, Europe, and Iran — is free for whomever wants it: irannews@aei.org

03/27 10:23 AMShare