TEHRAN: Iran has responded to US President Barack Obama’s offer of better relations by demanding policy changes from Washington, but Tehran is not closing the door to a possible thaw in ties with its old foe.
Iran wants the United States to show concrete change in its behavior toward it, for example by handing back frozen assets, but Tehran is not pursuing “eternal hostility,” said Professor Muhammad Marandi at Tehran University.
“I think it (the Iranian leadership) is quite willing to have better relations if the Americans are serious,” said Marandi, who heads North American studies at the university.
A day after Obama held out the prospect of a “new beginning” of diplomatic engagement, Iran’s top leader spoke at length on Saturday about its grievances against the United States and said he saw no real policy shift yet by the new administration.
But Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, also added in his speech at Iran’s most prominent religious center in the northeastern city of Mashhad: “You change, our behavior will change.”
Marandi said Khamenei did not dismiss Obama’s overture but was “effectively saying that this is simply not enough, that the United States must take concrete steps toward decreasing tension with Iran.”
Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are now embroiled in a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies the charge.
Saeed Laylaz, editor of business daily Sarmayeh and an outspoken political commentator, said Khamenei in his speech had sent a “counter-offer” to the United States following Obama’s video message on Friday to mark the Iranian New Year. “I think he opened the doors to the United States,” Laylaz said.
After taking office in January, Obama talked of extending a hand of peace to Tehran if it “unclenches its fist,” in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush, who branded Iran part of an “axis of evil” and spearheaded a drive to isolate it.
In his warmest offer yet of a fresh start in relations, Obama said: “The United States wants Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations.”
But Khamenei made clear more than a change in US rhetoric was needed. He also spoke of “oppressive sanctions” imposed on Tehran, Iranian assets frozen in the United States and Washington’s backing of Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.
