Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian supreme leader, has responded to the message of peace sent by US President Barack Obama. The response after the offer of dialogue via a video: The Islamic Republic of Iran will change only if the US president changes his country’s position towards Iran. “In practice we have not seen changes,” says Ayatollah Khamenei, adding, “The objectives should be changed and not just the tactics.”

It doesn’t need for Iran to even be slightly perceptive to read through Obama’s peace message. It is obvious to anyone that there is no perceived shift in US stance on Iran, save for the offer of dialogue after thirty years. The peace understanding a.k.a. diplomatic offer remains to be the same set of prerequisite demands cloaked under the pleasant disguise of an offer for a dialogue. It is no wonder that Iran replies with a challenge for ‘change’ that should come first from the US.

The result is nothing more than the old stalemate.

”Know that our people have been strengthened over the past 30 years,” Khamenei said in front of thousands of people gathered in the city of Mashad, northeast of the country.

In a speech that was also broadcast on television, Khamenei welcomed Obama’s message cautiously: “They have a slogan for change but in practice we have not seen any. They have offered a hand with a velvet glove under which, however, you could see a hand of solid steel.”

In an unprecedented move on Friday, Obama offered a new era in the relations between US and Iran, via a video message broadcast on the occasion of the Iranian New Year by the international broadcaster Voice of America. Obama opts for dialogue and said that the Iranians must decide whether they want to “take their rightful place in the international community.”

Obama threw the ball into Iran’s court only for the country to throw it back for Obama to play.

One wonders as to which of the two camps needs a ‘new beginning.’

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Via Yahoo! News