By Ladane Nasseri
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the change promised by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign means he must apologize for U.S. “crimes” against Iran, including American support for the 1953 coup in the country and the backing of Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
“We welcome change if it’s fundamental and in the right direction,” Ahmadinejad said today in a speech televised from the western province of Kermanshah. “Real change is change in the tone of talks with people, to enter from the door of respect, and not to pursue expansion and imperialism.”
Obama has shifted U.S. policy on Iran and pledged in his first television interview as president, to Dubai-based al- Arabiya, to reach out to the Muslim world. He “supports tough and direct diplomacy with Iran without preconditions,” and will “use the power of American diplomacy to pressure Iran to stop their illicit nuclear program, support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel,” according to a White House statement.
The Bush administration ruled out talks with Iran unless the country ended the uranium enrichment work within its nuclear program, which the U.S. alleges is aimed at making a bomb. Iran maintains the work is entirely peaceful and intended to generate electricity.
‘Avenues for Progress’
Obama underlined in the Jan. 26 al-Arabiya interview the importance of engaging with Iranian leaders and expressing “very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress.” He hasn’t specified which leaders the U.S. is willing to engage in talks.
“If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us,” Obama told the Arabic- language network.
Ahmadinejad’s comments on the U.S. today came in his first major address since Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the cleric-controlled nation, hasn’t spoken publicly since Obama succeeded President George W. Bush.
Ahmadinejad lashed out against U.S. involvement in the 1953 coup that toppled Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, and criticized its support for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the 1980-1988 war against Iran that left more than 1 million people dead.
“U.S. administrations have opposed the Iranian people for 60 years,” Ahmadinejad said. The U.S. has “insulted our people and our culture.”
The U.S. cut diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution, when student militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 diplomats. The students who took over the compound had initially demanded the return of Iran’s deposed monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, to face trial.
