Aware of the Iranian determination to enrich enough uranium to produce the country’s own atomic bomb, Barack Obama’s Nowruz video is an unprecedented move to offer dialogue with a nation that the US has been having difficult relations with. Taking advantage of the celebrations of the traditional Persian New Year, the US president made a display of conciliatory sentiment in favor of reaching a diplomatic understanding.

The new US position towards Iran represents a substantial change with regard to the policy pursued by the Bush administration. The former US government gave a precondition for direct negotiations: that Iran suspends its massive uranium enrichment program. Furthermore, the previous occupant of the White House never wanted to rule out the possibility of a military attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

In his message, Barack Obama insisted that the United States “wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to assume its rightful role in the community of nations” but added the caveat that the role comes with responsibility, not through weapons. (For a while, it sounded like Obama was referring to his own country.)

As initial response, the government of Iran said that the good intentions of the United States should be translated into concrete action, such as the lifting of sanctions. An adviser to Iran President Ahmadinejad said that the Obama administration has spoken so far with only words and no action.

The two countries of US and Iran have had no diplomatic relations for nearly three decades, beginning at that time when integrist revolutionaries hostaged 52 Americans for 444 days.

Is Iran the Achilles’ heel in the much-celebrated new US foreign relations policy?

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Via HAARETZ