Last year’s message offered diplomatic engagement with “mutual respect” and spoke of “common dreams,” of Iran’s “music, literature and innovation” and said of Iran: “You are a great civilization.”
This year’s message reeked of exasperation and disgust with the government of the Islamic Republic. Obama said nothing nasty; that just isn’t his style. But it was all too clear that he was fed up with the government in Tehran.
“Iran’s leaders have sought their own legitimacy through hostility to America,” he said, putting the full blame for bad relations on the backs of the leaders of the Islamic Republic. “Over the course of the last year, it is the Iranian government that has chosen to isolate itself and to choose a self-defeating focus on the past over a commitment to build a better future.”
The full text of Obama’s Now Ruz message appears on page seven of this week’s issue.
Obama acknowledged that Iran has grievances against the United States. “We have our own grievances as well. But we are prepared to move forward. We know what you are against; now tell us what you are for.”
It was the voice of the community organizer from Obama’s past. Community organizers learn that when dealing with groups, the organizer must move the conversation away from gripes, complaints and grievances or there is no hope for progress. Obama, the community organizer, was expressing his exasperation that the Islamic Republic refused to do that. His words hinted that he thought that was not immaturity on the part of the Islamic Republic, but rather a conscious policy decision: “Iran’s leaders have sought their own legitimacy through hostility to America.”
After asking Iranian leaders to “tell us what you are for,” Obama said, “For reasons known only to them, the leaders of Iran have shown themselves unable to answer that question. You have refused good faith proposals from the international community. They have turned their backs on a pathway that would bring more opportunity to all Iranians, and allow a great civilization to take its rightful place in the community of nations. Faced with an extended hand, Iran’s leaders have shown only a clenched fist.”
In two crisp paragraphs, Obama also took on the Islamic Republic’s criticism of American interference and efforts to mold Iran. The United States does want to change Iran, he said, and he explained just how:
“The United States does not meddle in Iran’s internal affairs,” Obama stated. “Our commitment-our responsibly-is to stand up for those rights that should be universal to all human beings. That includes the right to speak freely, to assemble without fear; the right to the equal administration of justice, and to express your views without facing retribution against you or your families.” It was pointedly a checklist of the major complaints the United States has with the way the regime runs Iran.
“I want the Iranian people to know what my country stands for. The United States believes in the dignity of every human being, and an international order that bends the arc of history in the direction of justice-a future where Iranians can exercise their rights, to participate fully in the global economy, and enrich the world through educational and cultural exchanges beyond Iran’s borders. That is the future that we seek. That is what America is for.”
In recent months, Iranians and Americans have complained that all Obama talks about is Iran’s nuclear program and accused him of ignoring human rights issues. In his Now Ruz message, Obama made only one brief reference to nuclear concerns and focused instead on two other topics-human rights, and the regime’s unwillingness to deal.
As last year, the response to Obama came from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi. Prior to January 2009 and Obama’s inauguration, lesser officials would normally respond to U.S. presidents. But with Obama’s ascension, Khamenehi has taken control of the public policy as well as the behind-the-scenes policy-making.
Khamenehi wasted no time. He responded the following day in a previously scheduled speech to the people of Mashhad.
Khamenehi said Iran has enemies because it has objectives and tries to progress. He said the United States has enemies because of its past behavior and its military expeditions of the past 60 years. He did not mention that the eight countries with which the United States has gone to war in that time-Germany, Italy, Japan, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan and Iraq-are not among America’s enemies, that even Vietnam, whose government was not toppled by American troops, has friendly relations with the United States.
Khamenehi then referred to President Obama’s Now Ruz message of last year, not this year, and commented: “He said, ‘We stretch out a hand of friendship.’ I said that we would follow up the issue with vigilance. We would watch to see if it really was a hand of friendship and whether intentions were friendly or hostile in the form of deceiving words. This is very important to us. I said last year that if underneath your velvet glove lays an iron fist, we will not stretch out our hands and will not accept your friendship. We are careful to make sure that a dagger is not hiding behind your smiles.
“Unfortunately, what happened was exactly what was expected. The American government and the new president …said that we want to normalize our relations with the Islamic Republic. Unfortunately they did the opposite. In the eight months after the [Iranian] elections, they adopted the worst possible stance. The American president described the street rioters as a civil movement,” Khamenehi said.
