Iran calls for major changes in US policies – Newspaper
Published: Friday, November 14, 2008
12:35GMT—7:35AM/EST
DIPLOMACY – US – OBAMA – POLICY
Washington, 14 November (IranVNC)—The media adviser to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should make fundamental changes in its policies towards Iran, “not just in words and not just on paper”, but in action.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Mehdi Kalhor said that a letter that Ahmadinejad sent to Obama congratulating him on his 4 November win, rather than marking the end of “conflicts and differences” of opinion between the U.S. and Iran, “marks the beginning of a phase of dialogue about solving these problems.”
“The response to this letter must be a change of policies and actions on the part of the Americans, not just in words and not just on paper,” Kalhor said.
Many analysts have predicted that Obama, whose campaign message centered on “change”, would be more open to negotiations with Iran, especially in efforts to curtail that country’s nuclear program.
When asked what steps Obama should take before entering into dialogue with Tehran, Kalhor said that the U.S. should pull its troops out of the Middle East and cease its support for “Zionism”.
But Kalhor told the newspaper that Iran’s “policies and positions” towards the U.S. have not changed. “Our problems with America are strategic,” he said.
“We are neither expecting nor will we carry out merely small or symbolic actions,” Kalhor stated. He added that Iran was prepared to negotiate in “fair and equal circumstances” and “not when you have a bayonet pressed at your artery.”
Obama has in the past advocated “direct tough presidential diplomacy with Iran, without preconditions”, the Post reports. And in his first post-election speech, Obama said that “Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon … is unacceptable” and called for an end to Iran’s “support of terrorist organizations”.
A number of Iran’s political and military leaders now sound wary of any change from the next US administration.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hassan Qashqavi told reporters that Iran was not expecting any major differences in Washington’s policies toward Tehran. Likewise, Majlis [parliament] Speaker Ali Larijani said last week that “America is not going to change easily”.
And prior to the US presidential election, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lambasted the U.S., saying that differences between the two countries were greater than “a few political issues”.
Speaking in Tehran, Hojjatoleslam Hossein Ta’eb, commander of the Basij voluntary militia, warned on Wednesday of the dangers of negotiating with the new US administration.
“A person who comes with a mask of friendship but whose objective is betrayal, and who approaches from the direction of talks without restrictions and conditions, is more dangerous,” Ta'eb was quoted by the Mehr News Agency as saying.
According to a commentary also published in yesterday’s Post, for Iran’s leaders, “the only state of affairs worse than poor relations with the United States may be improved relations,” as opposition to Washington remains one of the main pillars of Iran’s politics.
Sources: Washington Post, Mehr News Agency
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