It seems the Obama administration is pushing full-steam ahead, regardless of how many times the highest authority in Iran tells him, “Sorry, not interested.” Here’s the latest.

Khamenei, speaking at the graduation ceremony at Imam Hossein University (the university of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), responds to Obama’s opening to Iran (h/t Ali Alfoneh):

Those who today recommend the Iranian nation to return to the global order are the exact people who expressed displeasure with advances of the Iranian nation in the direction of the Islamic Revolution… The recommendation to return to the global order is the same thing as capitulating to the bullying powers and accepting the unjust world order. But the Iranian nation has during the past thirty years answered no to this ignorant and illogical demand… All the pressures against the Iranian nation and the regime of the Islamic Republic have only aimed to degrade the elevated position of the spiritual demands of the revolution. Naturally, they did not succeed in this, and they will also not succeed in the future. . . .

Ahmadinejad, speaking in Kerman on the nuclear issue yesterday, addressed the United States:

We tell that you know yourself that you today are in a position of weakness and you can’t achieve anything.

What the Obama administration has done is simply to hand Ahmadinejad a victory two months ahead of the Iranian elections. Not only has Obama ignored reality in Iran, his complete inattention to the timing of his proposals and their impact on the Iranian elections is diplomatic malpractice.