Iran: Stream of American and Iranian Messages Pervade Persian New Year

U.S. and Iranian leaders took the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, to offer a flurry of web-based messages to the Iranian people. On Saturday, the White House posted a YouTube video of President Obama‘s address, where he called on the Iranian government to choose a “better future” that “respect[s] the dignity and fundamental human rights of its own people.” At the same time, he lamented that multiple “good faith proposals” have been rejected by Iran’s leaders. “Faced with an extended hand,” he remarked, “Iran’s leaders have shown only a clenched fist.”

Few commentators reacted to this address though Steve Clemons of the Washington Note thought his speech was “excellent” and that “this kind of public diplomacy is enormously important in reaching out for the prospects of change — even if the Iran government is recalcitrant.”

Not surprisingly, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad each responded in their own Nowruz speeches with damning criticisms of the U.S. and heaps of praise for last year’s presidential elections. Khamenei charged the U.S. government with trying to facilitate a civil war and criticized it for its deceptive engagement. He explained his rationale for dismissing Obama’s offers, saying that “if they [the U.S.] are extending a metal hand inside a velvet glove, we won’t accept.”

Meanwhile, Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the Internet to issue his own statement, criticizing the government for its handling of last year’s election and citing gloomy projections for Iran’s economy. Mehdi Karroubi, another opposition leader, also posted a video message condemning the government and pledging his life to defend his country, Islam and the Islamic Republic.