Obama to Iran: U.S. offer of dialogue still stands

WASHINGTON, March 20 | Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:00am EDT

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama renewed his administration's offer of dialogue and diplomacy with Tehran on Saturday, a year after his offer of a new beginning with Iran failed to achieve concrete results.

Obama, who addressed Iranians in a new videotaped appeal to mark the observance of Nowruz -- an ancient festival celebrating the arrival of spring -- has pledged previously to pursue aggressive sanctions to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

"We are working with the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable because they refuse to live up to their international obligations," Obama said in the address released on Saturday, according to excerpts released by the White House.

"But our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands," he said.

Iran denies it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity.

Obama said Washington was committed to a "more hopeful" future for the Iranian people despite U.S. differences with Iran's government.

During his first year in office Obama marked Nowruz with a then-unprecedented message offering Iran a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement with the United States.

But Tehran rebuffed Obama's gesture and relations soured further when Iranian authorities cracked down on opposition protesters after a disputed election last June, drawing U.S. condemnation.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Bill Trott)

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Comments (1)
dumb101 wrote:
will this type of politics work? you are extend the olive branch to their people but not to their democratically elected government?

I simply don’t think it will work.

As for “human dignity” — one of my coworker was recently put in jail for overstaying his visa and then deported to Iran because of his application for permanent residency was getting to nowhere, simply because he was an Iranian national. After working in a US tech firm for 6+ years, with his children a few weeks from graduating from college, the friend and his entire family is being forced back into their home country.

That is why I say the politics won’t work. The term “people” is used as a tool — there was no honest in Obama in dialogue.

Mar 20, 2010 3:32am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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