Obama has drawn criticism in his first two years in office for playing down human rights considerations in his Iran policy. Republicans and many Democrats have complained that he has focused too much on the nuclear issue and not enough on the Islamic Republic’s human rights failings.
That changed Sunday when Obama didn’t even mention the nuclear issue.
Obama also did not mention the 2009 presidential elections or the losing candidates, Mir-Hossain Musavi and Mehdi Karrubi, presumably a nod to the many in the Administration who think the election results were probably not fraudulent. Instead, he named such people as Mohammad Valian, a student sentenced to death for throwing three stones, and Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer now serving time in prison.
Obama said the Iranian government’s responses to the protests, such as its treatment of these people, “do not demonstrate strength, they show fear.”
Obama did not mention President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad or Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi by name. He spoke only generically of a “rigid and unaccountable government” that constantly shows “it cares far more about preserving its own power than respecting the rights of the Iranian people.”
His 2011 Now Ruz message was a far cry from his first Now Ruz message two years ago. Then, his remarks were directed to the Iranian government and his theme was an effort to open talks and restore civil relations with the Islamic Republic. Last year, Obama spoke of the opportunities for improving relations that the Islamic Republic had ignored while still holding out the offer of improved relations. The tenor of his statement this year suggested he had given up hope for any meaningful relationship with Tehran. He never even mentioned state-to-state relations.
In Tehran, the Now Ruz holiday didn’t slow the effort to damn Obama’s Now Ruz message. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi was furious at Obama and accused him of having “lied” in his message.
Addressing a crowd in Mashhad Monday, the day after Obama’s message was released, Khamenehi mocked Obama for daring to compare the anti-regime protests in Cairo with the anti-regime protests in Tehran. But Khamenehi misquoted Obama. Obama compared the Cairo protests with the Tehran protests “in Azadi Square in June of 2009.” Khamenehi, however, said Obama compared the Cairo protest to the crowds in Azadi Square each February for the anniversary of the revolution.
“Yes, every year Iranians gather at Azadi Square on the anniversary of the Islamic revolution—and their main slogan has remained, ‘Death to America,’” Khamenehi chortled.
“We don’t know whether the current American president is mindful of what he is saying, or if he is unconscious or confused,” Khamenehi said in a very insulting manner—but opening himself up wide for the identical observation about his own words.
Khamenehi then rewrote facts to fit Iranian propaganda. He pretended that Obama had never called for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave office weeks before Mubarak finally resigned. “Obama said he was with the Egyptian people,” Khamenehi commented. “But he lied. The Americans cooperated with that enemy of the Egyptian people until the very last moment.… Now that American president sends a message to the Iranian people saying ‘We support you!’”
Khamenehi said the American rulers not only show no mercy for the people of the Middle East, “they don’t even show pity for their own people.” As proof of that, he said, during the recent economic crisis, Obama “poured thousands of billions of American people’s money into the coffers of the arms merchants and the oil companies,” although those firms did not qualify for the “Stimulus” bail-out funds.
As in past years, Obama not only released his Now Ruz message in writing, but also recorded it with Farsi subtitles and had the video posted on YouTube in a clear effort to reach more Iranians.
Only the opening and closing few paragraphs were a traditional Now Ruz message. The bulk of the statement followed the theme of lining the United States up side-by-side with the Iranian opposition, embodied in his proclamation: “I am with you.”
But the statement was rhetorical. Obama did not provide any laundry list of policies he would pursue to implement that support. He also avoided any reference to military force. It was an indictment of the Islamic Republic and a pledge to stand with the opposition that was similar to those previous US presidents made to those living for decades behind the iron curtain.
Obama opened by putting the Iranian opposition squarely in the context of the protests swirling about so many Middle Eastern states, but noting that Iran was the first. “These movements for change are not unique to these last few months,” he said. “The same forces of hope that swept across Tahrir Square [in Cairo] were seen in Azadi Square in June of 2009.
“And just as the people of the region have insisted that they have a choice in how they are governed, so do the governments of the region have a choice in their response. So far, the Iranian government has responded by demonstrating that it cares far more about preserving its own power than respecting the rights of the Iranian people.”
While Obama’s criticism was sharp, he avoided catch phrases that have been used in previous administrations, such as “rogue” government, used in the Clinton Administration and “axis of evil,” which was popular (briefly) in the George W. Bush Administration.
Here is the full text of the rest of Obama’s criticism of the Islamic Republic and pledge of support for the opposition.
“For nearly two years, there has been a campaign of intimidation and abuse. Young and old; men and women; rich and poor — the Iranian people — have been persecuted. Hundreds of prisoners of conscience are in jail. The innocent have gone missing. Journalists have been silenced. Women tortured. Children sentenced to death.
“The world has watched these unjust actions with alarm. We have seen Nasrin Sotoudeh jailed for defending human rights; Jaffar Panahi imprisoned and unable to make his films; Abdolreza Tajik thrown in jail for being a journalist; the Baha’i community and Sufi Muslims punished for their faith; Mohammad Valian, a young student, sentenced to death for throwing three stones.
“These choices do not demonstrate strength, they show fear. For it is telling when a government is so afraid of its own citizens that it won’t even allow them the freedom to access information or to communicate with each other. But the future of Iran will not be shaped by fear. The future of Iran belongs to the young people — the youth who will determine their own destiny.
“Over 60 percent of the Iranian people were born after 1979. You are not bound by the chains of the past — the distracting hatred of America that will create no jobs or opportunity; the rigid and unaccountable government; the refusal to let the Iranian people realize their full potential for fear of undermining the authority of the state.
“Instead, you — the young people of Iran — carry within you both the ancient greatness of Persian civilization, and the power to forge a country that is responsive to your aspirations. Your talent, your hopes, and your choices will shape the future of Iran, and help light the world. And though times may seem dark, I want you to know that I am with you,” Obama said.
