IRAN’S response to US President Barack Obama’s Nowruz message of goodwill last week was summed up by the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: We will judge you by your actions not your words. Those who had hoped for a quick breakthrough in US-Iranian relations will be disappointed. The mountain of ice that stands between Washington and Tehran will take a long time to thaw.

Obama's message was surprising but not totally unexpected. He had argued for a change in policy on Iran even before he was elected. And in his message he stressed that diplomacy was now the preferred course of action to resolve the serious differences the US has with Iran. Serious is an understatement. Iran represents an enormous challenge to US foreign policy, as big as China was in the 1970s, the USSR in the early 1980s and Iraq in the last decade.

It would take more than a reconciliatory message to end more than three decades of bitter animosity and mutual hostility. In would take major initiatives to repair the damage left by the policies of the Bush administration.

America's demands and expectations have not changed, although the tactics of achieving them have. Washington and its Western allies, including Israel, want to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions. This has become an urgent issue as Tehran inches closer to firing up its nuclear reactor later this year. Iran is a couple of steps away from becoming a full-fledged de facto member of an elite club of nuclear countries.

But the real threat from Iran, in Washington's view, is not its future nuclear capabilities, but its ideology. Dogma is what frightens America, Israel and most Arab regimes. For millions of Shiites, Iran's revolution has ushered a new resurgence for their minority sect in a predominantly Sunni world. A combination of fiery rhetoric, old regional ambitions and dangerous liaisons present it as a threat to the US and its allies in the region.

Iran is a huge country of tremendous resources and potential. It is an ancient culture of proud people. Even when the country is divided between conservative and reformist forces, the issue of acquiring nuclear capability is a unifying one. It will be difficult for any outside power to convince the Iranian leadership of abandoning this strategic project.

Obama's characterization of Iran has missed the point. The Iranian people, a majority of them were born after the triumph of the revolution in 1979, had known many enemies and foes. But America had always been public enemy No. 1. It is here that dogma and history intermesh in a way that makes it difficult for Obama's peace message to make tangible change.

America's involvement in Iran predates the overthrow of the Shah and the ensuing deterioration in relations between the US and the Islamic republic. For modern-day Iran, Washington has been the enemy for as far as the living can remember. The CIA had been instrumental in prolonging the reign of the Shah and its ruthless secret police since the 1950s. In fact no Iranian will mention a bright spot in US-Iran relations that spans a period of more than six decades, simply because it doesn't exist.

But that does not mean that future relations cannot take a different course. In contrast to Obama's message President Ahmadinejad had sent a letter to the American people in November 2006 in which he praised their God-fearing values while lambasting the policies of their Zionist-supporting government.

And last week Khamenie reminded thousands in Mashhad of America's crimes against the people of Iran. The US had backed Saddam Hussein in his eight-year-war against Iran in which millions perished. America had killed innocent Iranians by shooting down a civilian aircraft over the Gulf in 1989. It had conspired against Iran and still imposes strict economic sanctions.

There are few reasons why Iran should trust the Americans at this point. Obama had promised change, and demonstrated that he can fulfill such promise as is the case with Syria. But what Iran really needs at this stage is a public US apology for years of abuse and threats. It wants to see American policy in the Middle East taking a new direction that would restore trust in a power that has always been viewed as the enemy.

The ball is not in Tehran's court as Obama and his aides might think. The Nowruz message carries little value unless it is backed up by deeds. The change, in Iran's view, has to come from Washington first and foremost. It has to be a fundamental change as well because while America employs tactics and strategies, Iran sees itself as following a set of principles.

If there is ever going to be rapprochement between Tehran and Washington it will take some time to achieve. Obama and his aides will have to review their entire Middle Eastern policy before they can score gains with the Iranian leadership. So far Tehran is enjoying its regional affluence. It has influential cards in a number of issues including Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Afghanistan. And it is in no mood to compromise on its nuclear ambitions.

The Arabs will have to move swiftly if they want to have a role in future US-Iran negotiations. They will have a rare chance to do so in their upcoming summit in Doha next week.

— Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and commentator based in Amman.