Obama’s second letter to Iran
From Press TV this morning: US President Barack Obama has reportedly sent his second direct message to Iran’s leading authority, the Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tabnak, a semi-official Iranian news service, on Wednesday said the country’s most prominent political figure has received a second letter, but did not mention the exact […]
ElBaradei: “No concrete evidence of Tehran’s ongoing nuclear weapons program”
Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said “there was no concrete evidence that Tehran has an ongoing nuclear weapons program.” Reuters reports from Vienna: Iran is not going to produce a nuclear weapon any time soon and the threat posed by its atomic program has been exaggerated, the U.N. nuclear watchdog […]
“US Representative Clenched the Handle of the Sword Hard”
Kayhan Newspaper reported today on Congressman Berman’s proposal to impose harsher sanctions on Iran. According to Kayhan, efforts to impose additional sanctions including sanctions on refined petroleum products are a result of the U.S. government losing hope in the victory of the opposition movement: Kayhan Newspaper: Sources report of the US Congress’ persistence on strengthening […]
Live-blogging Friday’s Events in Iran
[polldaddy poll=1721241] 12:23 am: A NIAC member points to propaganda like this video playing up fears of foreign conspiracies against Iran as indicative of why Obama’s approach has been the right one thus far. He notes Iran has stepped up airing videos similar to this. 11:39 pm: With many concerned a major crackdown against the […]
WaPo’s Glenn Kessler on Dennis Ross
The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler (who will also be appearing at NIAC’s upcoming conference on Capitol Hill) was asked to share his views of Amb. Dennis Ross, President Obama’s point person on Iran at the State Department. Kessler is familiar with much of the criticism that Ross faced prior to joining the Administration–much of which […]
Iranican asks you to support Obama’s remarks on Iran
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yOTO7q1naU&hl=en&fs=1&] Last week, Obama became the first president to recognize the U.S. role in the 1953 coup against the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadeq. In response to the President’s historic speech, the Iranian-American community has shown its support for this gesture. Iranican, a non-profit organization based in Silicon Valley which produces media […]
Iran in Obama speech to Muslim World
Here are the relevant excerpts from President Obama’s speech to the Muslim community from Cairo. Full text available here The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons. This issue has been a source of tension between the United States and the Islamic Republic of […]
Hot Dog Diplomacy
The State Department last week sent a message to every US Embassy and consulate around the world, notifying them that “they may invite representatives from the government of Iran” to their July 4th parties. According to the NYTimes: Administration officials characterized the move as another in a series of American overtures to Iran. The United […]
Okay, we’ll talk to Iran…. (now what?)
Everyone–literally everyone –who favors diplomacy with Iran is asking the same question right now: What do we do now that Barack Obama is President? For the last eight years, the pro-engagement community honed its defensive skills. For the duration of the Bush regime, this rag-tag band of progressives, trade groups, security organizations, and religious groups was in the […]
Obama to remain “persistent” in talking to Iran
For months, we’ve been arguing against setting artificial deadlines for diplomacy with Iran. To us, if 30 years of sanctions hasn’t achieved our objective, it only seems fair that diplomacy should be given enough time to succeed. Some in Congress disagree. But fortunately, President Obama last night weighed in, unprompted, during his press conference. “I’m […]
A NEW YEAR, A NEW BEGINNING: OBAMA’S NOROOZ VIDEO
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2242726&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] Full text available here. In Farsi here. Trita went on record over at The Cable: “This is huge,” said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, a group that supports U.S. engagement with Tehran. “First of all, he is addressing the people and the government, which has not been done before. […]
Iran review preview…
The Obama administration’s Iran policy review, headed up by Amb. Dennis Ross, is scheduled to be completed by the end of next week. From media accounts and the Beltway rumor mill, we have been given a glimpse into what might come out of it.