From Danger Room:
The White House has released a video message to the Iranian people timed to coincide with the Persian holiday of Nowruz. The video, released with subtitles in Farsi, is an appeal by President Barack Obama for "new beginnings" in the U.S.-Iranian relationship. And it includes a direct message to leadership in Tehran: Turn away from nukes.
From the transcript:
The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right -- but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization. And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create.
Submit now, Iran, or we're opening up a can of pretty-please. We mean it!
***Update: Well here's a shocker.
TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian government brushed aside a Persian New Year's message Friday from President Barack Obama offering to resolve years of hostility, saying it wants concrete change from Washington before it's ready to enter a dialogue.
Obama released the video to coincide with the major Iranian festival of Nowruz, a 12-day holiday that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year on the Persian calendar. In the video, which has Farsi subtitles, Obama said the U.S. is prepared to end the strained relations if Tehran tones down its combative rhetoric.
Who could have predicted that?
OK, so abandon that. Let's focus on wishing for perpetual motion machines and unicorns.
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