Perhaps we’ll see the State Department suddenly insisting that President Obama was imprecise in his words, but I think his response to the first question, on whether there were any “red lines” or circumstances in which Obama would no longer seek re-engagement with the Iranian regime, represented a shift. “We have opened up a path . . . ultimately, it is up to them . . . What we have seen in the last few weeks is not encouraging.”
I think Obama is trying to hint to the Iranian regime that his re-engagement offer won’t last forever . . .
On the 4th of July invitations from American embassies, Obama shifts back to saying the ball is in their court: “If the Iranians choose a path towards normalcy, we are interested in healing some of those difficulties . . . But that is a choice the Iranians are going to have to make.”
UPDATE: Eli Lake of the Washington Times, one of the guys I trust on these matters, reacts, “I think Obama is now conditioning talks with Iran on how the IRGC deals with the protesters. That’s the implication.”