(CNN) — U.S. President Barack Obama sent a direct message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weeks before this month’s disputed election, Iranian sources said Wednesday. The letter requested dialogue and engagement between the two nations, the sources said. The sources said Khamenei has yet to reply to the letter, but nonetheless it “had set the negotiating table in order for both sides to sit around it after the election.” Khamenei made an indirect reference to the letter in his sermon on Friday at Tehran University. “The U.S. President said that we were waiting for a day like this to see people on the street,” the Iranian leader said. “Some people attributed these remarks to Obama and then they write letters to say we’re ready to have ties; that we respect the Islamic Republic and on the other hand they make such comments. Which one should we believe?”
One Iranian source said before the election, “We thought President Obama would send congratulations to President Ahmedinajad” and his senior advisors had already prepared a response to the anticipated note, which never came. The Iranian source said that the election dispute is wasting time on the issue of starting U.S.-Iranian negotiations.
“The longer it is delayed,” the source said, “the less likely it (U.S.-Iranian talks) will happen.” Under intense scrutiny amid growing concerns over Tehran’s violent crackdown on street protests, Obama has sharpened his language on Iran.
“The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days,” Obama said Tuesday, adding that he strongly condemns “these unjust actions.”
He has not spoken in support of Ahmadinejad or his main rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi whose supporters have taken to the streets to protest the results of the June 12 election that gave Ahmadinejad a second term.
Obama’s letter to Khamenei is in keeping with his publicly stated aim of engagement with Iran and his New Year’s message in which he described new way forward.
But that tack may be changing as senior administration officials in Washington told CNN that the Obama administration is seriously considering not extending further invitations to Iranian diplomats for July 4 celebrations overseas. Some invitations had already been sent and will not be rescinded, senior administration officials said.
The officials said intense discussions on the issue were taking place, but the final decision had not been made.
The Obama administration had decided to invite Iranians to the celebrations at overseas posts as part of President Obama’s policy of engaging the Iranian regime.
As part of that engagement Obama videotaped a message for the Iranian people on the Persian New year and U.S. officials have engaged members of the Iranian government.