Obama sends New Year message to people of Iran

In a repeat of an exercise he did last year, U.S. President Barack Obama has produced a video message for Iranians around the world in which he says that the "choice for a better future" remains "in the hands of Iran’s leaders".

This greeting message follows the video that was posted last year, in which President Obama spoke of "the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization" and of how "The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations". His message this year - released on Saturday to mark the start of Nowruz, the Iranian/Persian New Year - comes at a time when U.S.-Iran relations are arguably worse than they were 12 months ago. With the fallout from last June's hotly disputed Presidential election in Iran continuing and the U.S. pressing hard for tougher sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program President Obama acknowledged Iran's right to "peaceful nuclear energy". However he added that the U.S. wants the authorities in Tehran to "adhere to the same responsibilities that apply to other nations". In what Alalam News describes as "an obvious interference in Iran's internal affairs" the President asserts that the Iranian regime has turned its back on "a pathway that would bring more opportunity to all Iranians, and allow a great civilization to take its rightful place in the community of nations". He added:

Faced with an extended hand, Iran’s leaders have shown only a clenched fist

Four and a half minutes long and accompanied by either Farsi or Arabic subtitles the video opens with the President extending his best wishes to "all who are celebrating Nowruz in the United States and around the world". Then he tells the Iranian leadership:

We are familiar with your grievances from the past – we have our own grievances as well, but we are prepared to move forward. We know what you’re against; now tell us what you’re for

Insisting that the "United States does not meddle in Iran’s internal affairs" and that he wants "the Iranian people to know what my country stands for" - which he says is "the dignity of every human being, and an international order that bends the arc of history in the direction of justice" - the President notes midway through his message:

Last June, the world watched with admiration, as Iranians sought to exercise their universal right to be heard. But tragically, the aspirations of the Iranian people were also met with a clenched fist, as people marching silently were beaten with batons; political prisoners were rounded up and abused; absurd and false accusations were leveled against the United States and the West; and people everywhere were horrified by the video of a young woman killed in the street

Observing how the opposition in Iran used the likes of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to let the world know what was happening in the country as protests against the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were held Al Jazeera highlights President Obama's remarks regarding how the U.S. wants to "ensure that Iranians can have access to the software and Internet technology that will enable them to communicate with each other, and with the world, without fear of censorship". Confirming that the U.S. government even asked Twitter to delay maintenance it had planned for June last year, so that the Iranian opposition could continue using the social networking site to keep the world informed of events in its country, Al Jazeera repeats President Obama's declaration that the U.S.'s "offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands". Analyzing the message, which ends "Thank you. And Aid-e-Shoma Mobarak" - the latter phrase meaning Happy New Year - the BBC says that the U.S. President has "sought more to put a positive spin on America" than he did in his message last year. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has been speaking about Iran too. According to the BBC his wish that in the next 12 months the Iranian people will be able to "fulfill their hopes and ambitions" and "express freely their aspirations for the future" is likely to be seen by Tehran as some form of message of support for the country's opposition movement.