I sure hope he has the policy expertise behind him to confidently and securely play this game. Because, Iran is excellent at this public diatribe.
By the way, most Americans see Admadinejad as the main man in Iran.
After all he is the President. And, while I haven’t seen poll numbers, he is probably overwhelmingly viewed negatively by the US populus. But, he isn’t the main man at all. In fact, he is unpopular with the people and expendable by the real rulers of Iran: the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei,
and the powerful, theocratic Council of Guardians.
Judging by Khamenei’s response to Obama, which has had headlines in the UK press, I think the Iranians will win the war of words with the US handily.
There is a lot of baggage with US-Iran relations. The US government deservedly is hated by Iranians, not because of the US’s alliance with Israel, but because we shamelessly toyed with Iran through our puppet, the Shah in the 1950s-70s. A nationalist government under Mossadegh sought to nationalize the oil business in Iran which had heavy British and American interests.
America solved this economic risk by having the CIA topple Mossadegh and bringing back the Shah as its puppet.
I am not supporting the present Iranian regime--by a long shot. But, I am recognizing that the US has a long history of serious meddling in Iranian affairs.
If Obama and the new US government seeks relations with Iran, we will need to be very smart, because Iran is likely to be highly skeptical of our intentions--and rightly so.
Khamenei demands that the US cease its support of Israel and undo the anti-Iran sanctions as proof that it is serious about changing. I don’t see the US achieving good relations with Iran for some time. But, Iran is succeeding as a power player in the Middle East through its funding and training of terrorists. If we isolate Iran, terrorists will continue to have a rich benefactor. If we can somehow come to a sort of common understanding with Iran, perhaps we can lower global terror risks.
But, I see these as requiring covert discussions for a while. Public speeches and posturing is too dangerous and unlikely to be productive.
