Ahmadinejad says awaiting “real change” by Obama
Updated: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Photographer: WashingtonTV
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
12:30GMT—7:30AM/EST
Washington, 10 November (WashingtonTV)—Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that he had not seen signs of change in key US policies under the administration of US President Barack Obama.
Speaking in Istanbul, where he was attending an economic summit, Ahmadinejad said that Iran has declared that it is ready to help Obama make changes, but only if the American president has “open” ears.
“We have said that we welcome real change, and whoever truly extends a friendly hand to the Iranian nation, we would welcome that, but change should happen in practice,” Ahmadinejad said at a press conference, according the office of the president.
Ahmadinejad criticized Washington’s policy toward the Palestinians and its support of Israel, and warned Obama that he must choose between Israel and relations with Iran and the region.
“He cannot support the murderous Zionist regime and at the same time earn the friendship of the region’s nations, and he has to choose one,” the Iranian president told reporters.
Ahmadinejad said that abandoning support for Israel was a “difficult decision”, but that Obama could not expect to make “big changes” without doing such.
“We announced that we are ready to help bring about these changes, but only on the condition that there are open ears,” he added.
In an interview broadcast last night, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington wants a “civil, diplomatic relationship” with Tehran, and that Obama had conveyed that message to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
She told public broadcaster, PBS, that if Iran cannot overcome its “mistrust and internal political dynamic”, then the U.S. would have to do what is in its best interests.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ahmadinejad said that “cooperation and dialogue” with Iran were the only way to resolve the longstanding row over its nuclear program.
Sources: Office of the president of Iran, Public Broadcasting Station [PBS] website
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