Iran dismisses Obama overture

The Iranian government brushed aside a Persian New Year’s message from US president Barack Obama offering to resolve years of hostility, saying it wanted concrete change from Washington before it was ready to enter a dialogue.

Mr Obama released the video yesterday to coincide with the major Iranian festival of Nowruz, a 12-day holiday that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year on the Persian calendar.

In the video, which has Farsi subtitles, Mr Obama said the US was prepared to end the strained relations if Tehran toned down its combative rhetoric.

Israeli president Shimon Peres issued a rare Nowruz greeting of his own to Iranians, praising what he called “the noble Iranian people” in a message on Israel’s Farsi-language radio station, which broadcasts in Iran.

But Mr Peres took a tougher tone in an interview to be aired to Iranians on the station on Monday, strongly criticising Iran’s hardline leaders as “religious fanatics” and predicting that Iranians would overthrow them.

“I think that the Iranian people will topple these leaders,” Mr Peres said in the interview, according to a transcript. “These leaders who don’t serve the people, in the end the people will realise that.”

Mr Obama has repeatedly signalled a willingness to engage with Iran about its nuclear programme and hostility towards Israel. At his inauguration, the president told rival states that his administration “will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist”.

But Iranian leaders have been not been as eager. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has criticised Mr Obama, saying he would continue the policies of former president George Bush.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also said Iran would welcome talks with the US – but only if there was mutual respect.

Iranian officials say that means Washington must stop accusing Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism, charges Tehran denies.

Yesterday an Ahmadinejad adviser played down Mr Obama’s video, saying “minor changes will not end the differences” between Tehran and Washington.

“Obama has talked of change but has taken no practical measures to address America’s past mistakes in Iran. If Mr Obama takes concrete actions and makes fundamental changes in US foreign policy toward other nations including Iran, the Iranian government and people will not turn their back on him,” press adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr told the state-run English-language Press TV satellite station.

Mr Obama’s overture comes ahead of Iranian national elections in June. Mr Ahmadinejad faces a tough campaign against reformists, who favour better ties with the West and the US.

The reformists, led by former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, may try to use promises to thaw the nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze to gain votes. In contrast, conservatives may get caught between maintaining their tough position or offering some opening for dialogue with Washington.