Iran answers back

A few days after the release of the video by President Barack Obama to the people and leadership of Iran with an offer of better relations between the United States and Iran, there is apparently a response of sorts.

Iran's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech in Mashhad: "Change in words is not enough, although we have not seen change in words either. Change must be real. We should tell American officials that the change he is talking about is a must", "You change, our behavior will change." He also stated that the United States was "hated in the world" and should stop interfering in other countries. Khamenei spoke of "oppressive sanctions"and of Iranian assets that remain frozen in the United States. He also referenced Washington's continued backing of Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.

Since the time of Reagan the United States has not had any diplomatic engagement with Iran, and at current the United States and others are watching the Iranian Nuclear movement carefully. Development of nuclear arms is something that Iran and there leadership deny but many speculate that Iran has a nuclear program underway currently.




Does this mean they are no longer part of Bush's "Axis of Evil"?

Don't forget these are the same leaders who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981 after students took over the American embassy in support of the Iranian revolution.

Obama said in a message to Congress last week that his administration will continue its sanctions against Iran as "the actions and policies of the Government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat" to the U.S. national security and economy.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has demanded Washington apologize for decades of "crimes" against Iran.