Iran Blasts Obama Over Criticism
Shortly after being elected president of the United States, Barack Obama said that he considered Iran’s nuclear weapons program to be “unacceptable.” It were tough words, indicating for the first time that Obama’s administration may be less tolerant towards Iran than many thoughts, and some hoped.
Iran itself congratulated Obama with his victory; it was a historic development, never since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 did Iran’s president congratulate the winner of an American presidential election. The message was clear: Iran hoped that Obama would be softer than George W. Bush.
Then Obama criticized Iran’s nuclear program saying a nuclear Iran would unacceptable to him: the Iranians were shocked, how could the man they thought would prove to be a relative friend of them oppose their program?
Tehran responded instantly. “Obama must know that the change that he talks about is not simply a superficial changing of colors or tactics,” Iran’s parliament speaker said on Saturday.
“What is expected is a change in strategy, not the repetition of objections to Iran’s nuclear program which will be taking a step in the wrong direction.”
We will see in the coming months whether President Obama will be as mild as Iran hopes he will be. For now, it seems that the president-elect is surrounding himself by quite pro-Israel foreign policy advisers, who are certainly not willing to let Iran develop nuclear weapons.
That, of course, is a problem for Iran, and a hopeful sign for all those who are staunchly pro-Israel.
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