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Watching Obama from Tehran
Is Ahmedinejad worried about the newly elected president?
While describing Obama’s victory and America’s electoral system, the article puts special emphasis on what it calls “Obama’s praise of America’s actions in Afghanistan, and George Bush Sr.’s war in Iraq.” It goes on to say, “Obama has never been peace-seeking, because of his approval of some of some America’s military disputes.”
Jomhuriye Eslami, another right-wing newspaper, went a step further. “That Black Man Will Never Change U.S. Policy” was the headline of its editorial. It went on to say that despite Obama’s victory, U.S. policy will remain the same because of “the structure of the American regime, which was established by capitalists, Zionists, and racists.” In other words, Obama’s victory won’t change the fact that, to Iran’s leadership, America remains a racist state controlled by Israel.
More important to note is that the leading protagonist in the media assault against Obama seems to be Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Keyhan and Jomhuriye Eslami are the two newspapers closest to him. This is a strong indication of how worried Iran’s leadership is.
However, not all parties and individuals in Iran see Obama as a threat. The reformists in Iran take a very different view than the hard-liners, as indicated by Ebrahim Yazdi, the secretary-general of the Freedom Movement of Iran. He sees Obama’s election not as a threat but as an opportunity. In an exclusive interview with the Tehran-based IR Diplomacy publication, Yazdi called on Iran’s foreign policy establishment to declare openly that “Iran is prepared to negotiate unconditionally with America over issues such as current disputes in the Middle East, and bilateral differences.” Yazdi went on to say, “If the government of Iran undertakes such an initiative, it would be positive for relations between Tehran and Washington, and the international community as a whole”.
Even moderate conservatives in Iran seem to be willing to give Obama a chance. Tabnak news, a leading moderate conservative news agency in Iran, published a piece which quoted a U.S. soldier telling CNN that Obama is “an angel rescuing (America) from hell.” Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Majles, Mohammad Hassan Abu Tarabi, said that he hoped that “Obama can learn from Bush’s failed policies, especially in the Middle East, and try to reform U.S. behavior.”
Obama’s election has even been used for satirical purposes. In one spoof report by Shahab News, which is close to Ayatollah Rafsanjani, it was reported that former Iranian presidential candidate Ayatollah Karrubi had contacted Obama on the night of the election, telling him “not to sleep a wink.” Karrubi’s “suggestion” was based on his own bitter experience. On the night of the Iranian presidential elections of 2005, he was leading Ahmadinejad before he went to sleep. By the time he woke up, Ahmadinejad had beaten him. Karrubi believes that his victory was jinxed by his sleep. He didn’t want the same to happen to Obama, and that’s why he supposedly contacted him.
The most intriguing reaction to Obama’s victory in Iran was reported by the Saudi-based Al Arabiya. In a report, this news outlet said that some Iranian officials had interpreted Obama’s election as as a sign of the arrival of the Mahdi. This is because Obama’s first name, Barack, means blessing and his second name, Hussein, is the name of the third Shiite imam who Iranians revere. The Saudi channel refused to reveal the name of the Iranian website on which its reports were based.
This raised many eyebrows in Iran, as Al Arabiya had recently been expelled from Tehran. Perhaps the Saudis were getting even with the Iranians, or were following in the footsteps of Shahab News by producing their own spoof report. In any case, its Iranian audience is not impressed by Obama’s spiritual credentials. Nor are Iran’s decision makers. In the meantime, they will keep busy worrying about a U.S. military attack until the last second of Bush’s term in office.
After the recent U.S. attack against Syria, they are worried that Bush may do the same to them. Iran issued its own warning to the U.S. against any invasion plans. They hope it will act as a deterrence. The rest is up to the U.S. — and soon, Barack Obama.
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Meir Javedanfar is the co-author with Yossi Melman of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran. He runs Middle East Economic and Political Analysis (MEEPAS).
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17 Comments
1. Marc Malone:Pah! They don’t fear him. They’re setting him up to be their “useful idiot”. They have to say bad things now, so when they betray him later, it won’t bother their own people.
Nov 7, 2008 - 2:45 am 2. SAF:When you want to help a relative or friend in a difficult situation the best thing you can do is give them certainty. Taking away the unknown is a great help.
But if what you have is an agenda that you know is contrary to the other sides stated goals etc. the best thing you can do is create uncertainty. The Iranians have done this for years and the results have been an unfettered march to a nuclear weapon and many American soldier’s deaths on their hands in Iraq. So they will continue to play the olive branch approach while pursuing their nuclear, anti Israeli and Iraq destabilization agendas. So look to escalation in arms smuggling and more interference in Iraq, and an escalation of fighting (already started in Israel) between their surrogates (Syria, Hamas et al)in the middle east.
They will gradually turn up the heat and watch and see what Obama does. Since Bush did NOTHING when they did these things under his watch they will expect the same results with Obama. And in the meanwhile talk the peace talk.
Interesting to see if Obama is conned into this.
Nov 7, 2008 - 4:45 am 3. mjk:Obama will do nothing. He’ll talk, talk, talk while Iran murders gay people, Christians, and unmarried women who have sex. He’ll talk, talk, talk while Iran builds up its nuclear arsenal. He’ll talk, talk, talk while Russia invades former Soviet Provinces, Poland, and the Czech and Slovak Republics (of course, I told someone yesterday that Russia was going to do this and she said, “so?” I said that’s how WWII started and she just stared blankly at me so he’ll be aided and abetted by an American Public disinterested in the truth). He’ll talk, talk, talk when a bunch of Palestinians massacre Israelis at the mall or the McDonalds’ or the beach, but boy will he get mad when the Israelis fight back.
America has elected the 21st Century version of Neville Chamberlain. I only hope there’s a Winston Churchill somewhere…..
Nov 7, 2008 - 5:26 am 4. Magic:No one fears the “One” he’s a politcal girly man. The nutjob worlds rogue leaders know they will be able to BS or ignore him and the US for four years. The most they will receive is a UN note of displeasure. Has the “One” sent our military leaders to the UN for their orders yet.
Putin mouthpeice told him this morning get in the back of the bus and shut up. Its just the beginning.
What a Wimp !!!!
Nov 7, 2008 - 9:58 am 5. angry white dude:Running one’s mouth and running the United States are two different things. It’s easy to sit back and criticize. Remember when Pelosi and Reid were elected to end the Iraq war? Yeah, right.
The other commenters are right, Obama is already being tested and it will come to a head. He WILL have to go one direction or the other. Soon.
Angry White Dude
Nov 7, 2008 - 2:47 pm 6. R a Z o R:It is a moral depravity to own a dog in Iran .
Dogs are killed and their owners are put in
prison .
GOOGLE : dog Iran
Is it not possible that the world is watching
as Obama selects a dog for the WH ?
Nov 7, 2008 - 4:15 pm 7. Ann:I doubt that the president of Iran has an ounce of fear regarding this wimp. Obama’s going to wet his pants the first time Putin raises his voice.
The biggest problem Ahmawhatzisname has is prioritizing the ways he’s going to tease and mislead this neophyte, and how he’s going to use Obama’s ignorance and arrogance.
Nov 7, 2008 - 5:19 pm 8. thegr8_1:mjk there is a Winston Churchill somewhere his name is John McCain second choice David Petreaus. Go to marklevinshow.com and listen to I believe wed night hour two of podcast. It is a speech Reagan gave in 1984 which would apply no differently today.
Nov 7, 2008 - 7:28 pm 9. JC:When a country is continuously being threatened by nuclear war, strangled economically, surrounded on all sides by countries which are occupied by armed forces poised to invade it, then I guess Iran has a pretty good excuse to bomb Washington. Way better than the U.S had for Iraq or Afghanistan(a WMD that didn’t exist and Osama ben Laden, on whom there is NO PROOF, check if you want..) Both invasions have only increased the possibility of attack against U.S citizens, and numerous pentagon papers prove that, though they barely made it to GW’s waste paper basket. Yet unread. If you want to fight terrorism, STOP PARTICIPATING IN IT.
Nov 8, 2008 - 12:55 am 10. jerryofva:I am going to put in a different view. Obama chose Rahm Emmanual as his Chief of Staff. Now, I recognize that he was chosen for his domestic political savy and not his foreign policy views but consider this.
– Emmanual’s father is Irgun.
– Emmunaul is an Orthodox Jew and a Zionist
– He has served in the IDF
– He has connections to all of Israel’s major political parties
There is no way that Rahm Emmanual is not Mossad’s man in the Democratic hierarchy
Before any of you blow this off consider this. Republicans support Israel because it is the right thing to do. Because of the anti-Israeli bias in the Democratic Party’s base it would make a lot sense to put someone there to keep an eye on things. You have to remember that the “rightwing” Likhud Party would feel fairly comfortable with much of Obama’s domestic agenda.
I love the irony here. The dreaded “neo-Cons” support Israel out of principal while the Obama camp now probably has an actual Mossad agent close to the President. As Chief of Staff, Rahm is going to make sure that Israel’s survivability will be given top priority in the Obama Adminstration.
May Joe Biden isn’t as stupid as he sounds. Maybe the base is going to all riled up because Obama is going to do exactly what Bush did in region. Support Israel, try to contain Iran but if that fails take them down.
Nov 8, 2008 - 2:23 pm 11. Jeffrey:Jerryofa
You are showing off a lot of ignorance:
Nov 8, 2008 - 3:08 pm 12. jerryofva:-Emmanaul did NOT serve in the IDF
-Being an Orthodox Jew is still not a crime
-You don’t even know what the word Zionist means
Sorry but you are wrong. He went to Israel in 1991 to help prepare IDF for the Gulf War. That counts as service. He is a Zionist and if anybody has duel loyalties its Emmanual and not the so-called neo-Cons.
Nov 8, 2008 - 6:43 pm 13. Scott:Rahm Emmanuel was chosen for his corruption in Illinois politics,not because his daddy supposedly fought with M. Begin…he is a sop to left wing Jews,the ones who live on Lake Michigan.The Jews that don’t want to be incinerated by nuclear bombs on Tel Aviv and Haifa might feel otherwise…
Nov 9, 2008 - 10:02 am 14. avi:To Jc: no one has ever threatened iran with nuclear war….secondly 9-11 was done by angry muslims only ignorant people believer otherwise…considering all the islamic extremism in the world outside of israel, iraq, and aphganistan its pretty clear as the biggest threat to the world is islamic extremism….people will believe in conspirocy theorys because its easier than the hard truth
Nov 10, 2008 - 8:38 am 15. JC:AVI. George Bush never threaten Iran with nuclear war? So “all options” were never “on the table”?, to take a direct quote. I believe you about the “angry Muslims” part, anger is always traced back to some sort of greavence, often very real, leading to “extremism”, as you put it. Why are they angry at the U.S? Is it because of it’s continuous support for harsh, brutal regimes like Turkey, in crushing the Kurdish population, Israel for the Palestinian, or even Saddam Hassein, whom the U.S supported throughout the worst of his atrocities, right up until the Kuwait invasion. And let’s not forget Saudi Arabia, the most extreme of all, and the U.S’s greatest regional ally, from where came 15 of the 19 hijackers. I encourage everyone visiting this site to read more history. Not conspiracy theories. History.
Nov 11, 2008 - 11:23 am 16. Troubled:Some people treat world conflict like a back yard scuffle. Call me a wimp but I want a president who will think about the consequences of a war before going to war. Think about it, do we really want to go guns blazing every time a leader says are does something that goes against our policies? Our next leader needs to chose his fights carefully. Some of these fight will be won with his gifts of words. Other will need to be won on the battlefield. We should pray that Obama’s gift for gab gets out of shows of force. Our economy nor our miliatary can stand much more strain.
Bush took a cowboy mentality. He went it alone without the help of key allies. He left the job in Afghanistan unfinished (a conflict that even a liberal wimp like me supported). He went to war in Iraq without consulting Powel or Schwartzkoff, the architects of the first Gulf War Victory. He talked tough and puffed out his chest and look what it got us. Trillions of dollars in debt, the disdain of the world, and two wars that have lead the the deaths of thousands or American service men. I’m all for defending American soverenity and way of life by any means necessary. Sometime the necessary tool is diplomacy and cooperation.
Nov 11, 2008 - 1:47 pm 17. Ms. Know:Oh no, they praised Obama and the liberal illuminati. Now they’re worried about him? What’s going to happen with Obama’s plan for a sit down?
Nov 14, 2008 - 12:12 pm