BEIRUT — Iran reacted with cautious praise Friday to President Obama's Persian New Year overture for a new beginning in relations, coolly resorting to its default rhetoric whenever an American leader tries to make nice: Thanks, but change your policies, then we'll talk.
In Tehran, the ruling establishment clearly regards Obama's conciliatory gestures with suspicion. Officials worry that his encouragement to rejoin the community of nations is actually aimed at dividing Tehran's leadership and paving the way for greater isolation.
The conservative and hard-line political factions now dominating the Islamic Republic suspect that the new U.S. administration's softened rhetoric is a diplomatic outreach meant to fail. Any resistance from Iran, they believe, would persuade now-reluctant leaders in China and Russia to take tougher action against the Islamic Republic.
The suspicion was reinforced by the release of another Persian New Year's greeting, from Israeli President Shimon Peres, who urged Iranians to set aside their country's nuclear ambitions on the premise "that your children cannot eat enriched uranium."
The Israeli move is likely to undermine Obama's message, reinforcing Iran's belief that the U.S. and Israel are formulating an Iran policy that is more subtle than that of the Bush administration, but just as hostile.
Despite Obama's personal popularity among ordinary Iranians, officials in Tehran see his gestures as a potentially threatening attempt to repackage rather than reformulate U.S. policies. They believe he could regain international credibility and support for the long-held Washington strategy of keeping Iran isolated and afraid.
Last week the U.S. renewed sanctions against the Islamic Republic instituted during the Clinton administration, a move Iranians pointed to as a reason for their doubts.
"They say, 'Do not be carried away. Do not be fooled by this man, Obama,' " said Sadegh Zibakalam, a political scientist at Tehran University, characterizing the position of Iranian officials suspicious of Washington. " 'He is as harsh and he is as dangerous and he is as much against Iran as George Bush. . . . Obama is disguising his policy against Iran.' "
During the presidential campaign last year, Obama made reaching out to Iran a priority of his foreign policy, calling the Bush administration's tough rhetoric a failure. In his extraordinary, three-minute videotaped message early Friday, Obama congratulated Iranians on the beginning of the Persian calendar year 1388 and praised Iran's history and civilization, but noted that relations between Iran and the U.S. have been strained for nearly 30 years.
