Tehran – Iran Slams U.S.: The Only Change In Obama Is Color, Not Policy

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    Tehran – Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani slammed US president-elect Barack Obama on Saturday for saying Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable,” the official IRNA news agency reported.

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    “This signifies a pursuit of the same erroneous policy as in the past,” Larijani said when asked about Obama’s comment on Friday.

    “If the United States wants to change its standing in the region it should send good signals,” he said.

    “Obama understands that change does not only mean a change of colour and superficial differences, change must also have a strategic basis,” the agency quoted Larijani as saying.

    Obama told his first news conference since winning the US presidential election on Tuesday that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was unacceptable and also that he would “respond appropriately” to a congratulatory letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

    “Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon I believe is unacceptable. We have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening.”

    Obama added “Iran’s support of terrorist organisations, I think, is something that has to cease.”

    IRNA also quoted Larijani as saying Iran’s leaders had chosen to pursue the country’s nuclear programme “having calculated the risks” and was well aware that they would come under international pressure.

    “But this was necessary for the future of Iran,” he said, adding that the Islamic republic would not suspend its controversial programme of uranium enrichment despite UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions against it.

    Enrichment is at the heart of Western fears that Iran could be seeking nuclear weapons as it can be diverted to make the fissile material for an atomic bomb as well as fuel for nuclear power plants.

    Tehran insists that its nuclear ambitions are strictly peaceful and solely aimed at generating electricity.

    Six major powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — have put forward the possibility of a package of technological, economic and political incentives if Iran suspends uranium enrichment.

    Early in his election campaign, Obama said he favoured unconditional direct talks with Tehran, but he has since hardened his position.

    Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since Islamist students took American diplomats hostage for 444 days following the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed shah.

    But in an unprecedented move, Ahmadinejad on Thursday sent a letter to Obama congratulating him on his election victory.

    Conservative dailies also criticised Obama.

    Kayhan headlined “Obama’s men pro-Israeli,” in reference to his appointment of Rahm Emanuel, a Jew, as White House chief of staff. It called him “a member of a terrorist Zionist group.”

    Jomhuri Islami’s headline read: “Obama gives green light to the Zionist regime.”


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    12 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    It looks like the Iranian leadership made the same mistake as a lot of VIN posters in thinking that Obama was really an Islamofascist.
    Both the Iranians and those posters must be severely disappointed.

    shim
    shim
    15 years ago

    Barry….give em hell. your’e a zionist in their book now anyway

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Iran is wrong again. Obama is much more to the left than any democrat ever elected as president.

    Criticism of Obama is not hate mongering, its FACTUAL.

    Eli
    Eli
    15 years ago

    Well, I’m glad Iran is getting the message on the first press conference, nobody needs their letter, they probably feel like a fool for sending the letter….

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I think that a lot of obama supporters who seeked change will be sorely disappointed. Iran is right with this, the only change in obama is color not policy.

    twersky
    twersky
    15 years ago

    this is a direct from bloomberg.com now lets see who between you can fill us in which auerbachs they are from. are they ayneklech from the toldos yakov yosef(r,shlomo zalman aerbachs family) or are they ayneklech of the imrai binah of yirushlaim r. meir auerbach ztl first to respond gets a smile
    _______________________________________________________________That family also includes his father, Benjamin, a pediatrician, his mother, Marsha, two brothers, Ezekiel, a doctor at the National Institutes of Health, and Ari, a Hollywood agent who inspired the Ari Gold character in HBO’s “Entourage.”

    Obama, criticized by Republicans during the campaign for his contacts with Palestinian advocates, named in Emanuel a person with strong family ties to Israel.

    Benjamin Emanuel participated in the Irgun, a pre- statehood group seeking independence for Israel. As he was putting up posters to promote the resistance, he was struck on the head by a British officer’s baton, a wound that is still visible today. Benjamin’s brother, Emanuel, was killed, and he changed the family name from Auerbach to Emanuel in his honor.

    It was a competitive family. Emanuel’s mother jokingly calls her middle son, “Rahmbo.” When he was 17, Emanuel severed half of his middle finger while working at an Arby’s restaurant. He refused to be treated because he wanted to attend his high school prom. An infection set in and almost killed him. It was at that moment, his mother said, that he became more serious about life, as detailed in the book “The Thumpin”’ by Naftali Bendavid, an account of Emanuel’s role in the 2006 campaign.

    Fiercely Loyal

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Obama is now our president and there is nothing you can do about it so show some respect. All Klal Yisroel needs is the Geula so stop all this shtoos and start working on yourselves!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Obama was already briefed by the inteligence community, and already knows things he didnt know before. Plain and simple

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Iran hates him? That alone is a reason for me to like him. Im beginning to already. I think this guy is gonna be good!