Obama is moving full-speed ahead to have rapprochement with Iran, ignoring all the warning signs that the Islamic Republic is not interested. Today, for example, Jomhouri-ye Eslami editorializes:
Whether we want it or not, the United States government is our enemy. More than a quarter of century of this enmity was because of direct U.S. intervention in our internal affairs…and during the past thirty years, the enmity has continued with obstructions, sanctions, provocations and various pressures. This all shows the dimensions of this enmity. The first half of it was because of the imperialist nature of the U.S. government and the second half because of the U.S. anger because we severed its plundering hands from the open and blessed table of Iran. In the face of this wounded and vengeful enemy which Imam Khomeini correctly called ‘the Great Satan’ and ‘the Mother of all Corruption of the Century,’ one must be realistic. One must consider the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and act and counter it accordingly. It would be a mistake to overestimate its might which would make us think it is impossible to counter it. But it would also be a mistake to underestimate it and down play it in the public… “
It is disappointing that no one in the press has bothered to ask President Obama when they will review Iran’s response and under what circumstances will they conclude that their approach is not working.
UPDATE: Sobh-e Sadegh, the mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Guards, declares: “One must punish, not praise, the enemy.”