Ahmadinejad: Iran welcomes Obama overtures
Iran’s president said Tuesday his country welcomes talks with the United States “in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the remarks a day after President Barack Obama said the United States is looking for opportunities for “face to face” dialogue with Iran, even though he has “deep concerns” about Tehran’s actions.
“Right now, the world is entering the era of dialogue,” Ahmadinejad told hundreds of thousands of people in a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
“The new U.S. administration announced that it’s willing to bring about a number of changes and is now taking the course for dialogue. It’s quite clear that real change should be fundamental, not just a tactical change, and it is quite clear that the Iranian nation will greet real changes.
“The Iranian nation is ready to hold up talks, but talks in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect,”Ahmadinejad said.
In Washington, Obama was asked about U.S. relations with Iran during his first prime-time news conference on Monday night.
Watch news conference in full »
“There’s been a lot of mistrust built up over the years, so it’s not going to happen overnight,” Obama said.
He said his administration is reviewing existing U.S. policy toward Iran, which supports groups Washington has branded terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and has defied U.N. demands to halt its uranium enrichment program.
Despite those concerns, Obama said his administration wants to use “all the resources at the United States’ disposal” to resolve those concerns.
“My expectation is, in the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table, face-to-face diplomatic overtures, that will allow us to move our policy in a new direction,” Obama said.
“So there are going to be a set of objectives that we have in these conversations, but I think that there’s the possibility at least of a relationship of mutual respect and progress.”
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The United States and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since 1979. During that year, the Shah of Iran was forced to flee the country and the Ayatollah Khomeini took power. Later that year, Iranian students took over and seized hostages at the U.S. Embassy. Relations have been cut since then. U.S. President George W. Bush labeled Iran as a member of the “axis of evil” after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Iran celebrated the 30th anniversary of the revolution Tuesday with crowds chanting “Death to America.” Watch the parade in Iran »
Tensions have rippled over issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, Israel, and Iraq, and have been aggravated since the outspoken Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005.
Western nations believe Iran is intent on building a nuclear weapon. Ahmadinejad has been criticized for his vehemence against and provocative remarks toward Israel and for Iran’s support of Hamas militants in Gaza and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon — militants groups that Israel has battled. Also, the United States has accused Iran of backing Iraqi insurgents…
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Posted by John Malloy
on Feb 10 2009. Filed under International.
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